You Need To find Yourself a Girl Mate
by Manga Girl number 6
Summary: FANFIC COMPLETED. 1st Story in 'Starlit Life' series. Ariah Clarke was a sailor, that was that. She wasn't a preen and polite lady. She was a inventive, brisk talking sailor. No one would make her any different... Right? Beta By: Whisperwings!
1. Ariah Clarke

**Author's Note:**

This is my very first Treasure Planet fanfic so let's see how it turns out... as it is also the first segment of a five-part series that I have planned if all goes well.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Ariah Clarke**

Ariah Clarke was never the type of lady she was expected to have been. All dressed up and pretty like some porcelain doll for each and every day of an uneventful life. No… among the things she needed, freedom was at the top of her list, and no colourless lifestyle was going to stop her need for adventure.

When she was young, Ariah's mother had always told her that pirates didn't exist. There were worst things in the real world. She also said that all of the adventures, that Ariah should've been voyaging on, should've stayed on her home planet. How drab.

She was free from all of that; now eighteen years of age with a few adventures of her own under her belt. But she had to admit that there were some things of the _boring_ life on her home planet she dearly missed.

* * *

The morning was clear in one of Montressor Lunar Spaceport's many inns, well if you could call it a morning anyways. The sunlight from miles away glared between the thin, ratty curtains of an inn's window into a particularly shabby room.

Ariah opened one of her copper-brown eyes, looking at through a curtain of long messy black bangs at the cheap inn room she had slept in.

The young woman pushed the dusty sheets off of her bed and stepped into her dark leather boots. She stuffed the bottoms of her light tawny pants into her boots and tugged the sleeves of her black peasant top back to her elbows.

Ariah cautiously stuck her hand under the dusty bed –hoping dearly to avoid finding anything unpleasant early in the morning- and she pulled out a tattered duffel bag, well worn from many years of use.

From the sack a tiny pink blob emerged, pooling itself around Ariah's few trinkets.

"Morph." Ariah groaned tiredly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Where's Silver?" She eased her fingers through her messy bangs. "And the rest of the crew?"

The pink blob blinked the tiredness from his system, registering Ariah's question, and then transformed into a large question mark.

Ariah sighed, looking down at the alien. "You don't know." She stated flatly.

Morph shook his little pink head innocently.

Ariah moaned tiredly in pain, her hangover was starting to kick in. Her crew was extremely hard to keep track of, especially when she had drunken herself unconscious the previous night… it was payday after all, from their last voyage. Ariah grabbed a red bandanna from inside her bag to pushed back her raven-black bangs and tied the rest of her black hair back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck with a spare piece of twine.

Then Ariah realized a possibility, which had happened to her before, unfortunately.

"Did they get another ship to sail?" She asked the blob urgently.

Morph shook his tiny head. Ariah sighed with relief, glad that she hadn't be left behind.

There was a subtle tap at the door. Ariah turned around on her bed as she was loosely lacing up a red vest over her peasant top. Another tap confirmed that someone wanted an answer at the door.

Ariah inelegantly stumbled across the dusty wooden floorboards and opened the grimy wooden door to the room.

A young maid wearing a long pale blue dress with a white apron tied around her waist entered the room. She had lengthy honey-blonde hair tied back in bun under a white bonnet. She looked to be the cleanest thing in the entirety of the inn's area and only about sixteen years of age.

"I'm here to clean the room." The maid said in a small voice, her eyes widened at the sight of the substantial mess in the small room.

Ariah flattened her copper eyes and glanced at the dusty room. The crew had indeed left a _gigantic_ mess. There were large piles of soiled dishes, ripped clothing –including torn curtains- hanging limply over the window, crumbs of leftover food, an upheaval of furniture, and plenty of empty beer mugs.

How was it that her fellow crewmembers could make such a colossal mess in one room?

The eighteen year old was surprised that even in her unconscious state of drunkenness she hadn't notice how raucous her fellow crewmembers had been.

"I dearly hope they are paying you well..." Ariah stated sympathetically.

Ariah walked past the misfortunate maid with both her duffel bag and Morph. Her leather boots lead her down the creaky steps and into the inn's lobby. She was beginning to gain balance back onto her feet as she became more sober, but the painful headache was beginning to annoy her.

"Hey Rye Bread!" An insulting voice yelled out, directed at the lady sailor.

Ariah groaned, wishing she wasn't as hung-over, so she could've taken personally insulter down. The shrill voice echoed painfully inside her now-sensitive ears.

The black-haired sailor turned on the heel of her boot, facing a teenaged alien. He had rubbery aquamarine skin covering his bendy body; his nose was most unusual... like six short tubes protruding from his face. He had a thick brown mop of hair covering one of his bug-like blue eyes while his exposed watched Ariah curiously. The alien was wearing a tight vest with red puffy sleeves and a large collar. Nearly hidden below the tavern table were his legs, clothed in scarlet shorts and dark green stockings, and his large feet encased in a pair of cube-like boots.

"Right..." She glanced at the alien, who was surrounded by a variety of different alien-like creatures. "If I'm _'Rye-Bread'_ then exactly what does that make you?"

The table of aliens were silent. Ariah casually walked out of the cheap inn. Morph quickly returned the room key and a small sack of coins to the front desk, blew a long raspberry at the teal alien, before returning to Ariah's duffel bag.

Ariah had to admit to herself that the _comeback_ –or lack thereof- was weak, but she'd likely have snappier ones when she had completely sobered up. Ariah wove through the crowds of people, heading towards the docks.

* * *

"Hey you're the one who observes the taxis that travel in and out of this spaceport!" Ariah exclaimed, standing at the taxi docks of the Montressor Spaceport. "Can't you honestly remember a large crew of alien sailors going some where?"

"I'm sorry, Miss. Clarke." The stubby brown alien stuttered, his elliptical ears twitching nervously from Ariah's bombardment of shouts. "It's hard enough to keep track of the taxis themselves, likewise the people who hire them..."

"Man!" Ariah groaned in frustration, tempted to pull out her raven-black hair on spot. "I can't believe this is happening!" She hissed at the brown alien. "Don't you have any type of tracking devices installed in your taxis?"

"Well…" The brown alien sighed. "N-Not yet." He stuttered. "They're getting funded and will eventually be installed."

"Ugh, like I care when they're going to be installed, it's not helping me right now!" Ariah turned away from the brown alien and glared at Morph. "You said they didn't get another ship." She shouted at the pink blob.

Morph glared right back, as if to say; "They didn't get another ship; they simply left the Spaceport and now we can't find them."

Unfortunately the crew's spontaneous disappearance wasn't a simple matter…

They're particular crew was one of the many hireable sailor crews on Montressor Spaceport, and at any point in time could they give up another chance for an adventure. It was too much for Ariah to bear.

The young woman sighed, thinking of the possibilities to get the crew back. In conclusion of her thoughts, she decided to do the only rational plan she had... quickly shop around the Spaceport to calm herself down and then return to the docks to wait for her crew.

* * *

Ariah dozed off for a couple of hours, while patiently waiting for her crew. She used the small package of the things she had purchased as a pillow while slumbering on a wooden bench at the main docks.

Nearby, Silver and the rest of his crew stepped off of their taxi, which left hastily after they had all exited. They approached the peacefully sleeping girl.

Morph chirped happily at the sight of his master. He sped over and nuzzled Silver's portly cheek.

Ariah awoke upon hearing Morph's chirping and the crew's familiar footfalls.

"Did yeh 'ave a pleasant nap, Sleepin' Beauty?" Silver chuckled heartily.

"It's about time you got here…" Ariah growled. She rubbed the sleep from her copper-brown eyes and stood from the bench.

The young woman stuffed the brown package into her duffel bag and shouldered it, still glaring at the crew.

"Exactly _where_ have you all been this entire time?" She demanded as she quickly came to her senses.

"Just on a little side trip, darling." Silver patted Ariah's shoulder reassuringly and steered her down the winding -always busy- streets of the spaceport with the rest of the crew in tow. "No need for yeh teh mind…"

"So." Ariah stuffed her hands into the pockets of her tawny trousers. "Any idea where we're going now?" She asked with a smile.

"Well, that would be up teh any lunatic who wants teh hire us…" Silver shrugged.

"Well then we might as well stop and smell the roses." Ariah rolled her eyes as she hopped onto the seat of another bench. "It's not like the chance is going to just come up behind us and give us at tap on the shoulder…"

* * *

"Excuse me..." A timid alien tapped Ariah's shoulder.

"Yes?" Ariah asked nonchalantly.

"Are you John Silver's crew?" The dog-faced alien asked, he was wearing a long brown-red suede coat, and had a small piece of paper held out in front of his large brown eyes.

"That would be me, sir..." Silver forcefully shoved Ariah off of the bench as he politely introduced himself to the potential customer.

Ariah growled dangerously, picking up herself from the cobblestone street, shouldering her duffel bag and leaning against a nearby wall.

* * *

After talking with the dog-faced alien, John Silver turned to his crew.

"Boys." Ariah glared at him coldly; "an' Ariah..." He added bluntly. "We've got another adventure teh go on."

The crew cheered loudly and even Ariah smiled.

Once the crew's cheers calmed down they quickly followed the dog-human's directions to get settled into their new ship; the legendary RLS Legacy...

But then Ariah began to wonder. Why did Silver consider Birdbrain Mary, the only other female sailor –beside her- in the crew, as one of the 'Boys'?

This made her grumpy once more as she realized that Silver perceived her less than the same toughness as the rest of the crew.

But such things were normal and she wasn't likely to take the matter to heart…

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Okay that's pretty much it... for now! If you can spare a few words of wisdom then it would be gladly appreciated.

**MG#6**


	2. The RLS Legacy

**Author's Note:**

Thank you to those who decided to comment on my story. And I shall continue...

PS Sorry for the wait: Christmas holidays and all that jazz.

* * *

**Chapter 2: The RLS Legacy**

The RLS Legacy was the most beautiful ship Ariah had ever laid eyes on. And she had seen many amazing ships in her short lifetime as a sailor.

The wondrous ship seemed to glimmer with wood polish, which effectively highlighted its elegant features. Passing citizens and sailors alike held his or her breathes the moment they spotted the legendary tall ship. The very mention of the ship's name brought some to their knees to worship it.

John Silver nudged Ariah out of her dream bubble. "If yeh keep gapping at the ship like a Space Fishy, we're gonna 'ave teh carry yeh onto the ship with the cargo, Ariah."

Ariah glared at Silver but she glanced back up at the beautiful ship. Excitement zapped through Ariah's mind as she remembered that she would be playing her part in commandeering this beautiful ship; a part she intended on doing well.

"This is going to be awesome!" Ariah cheered. She skipped ahead of the crew, with Morph closely following her. Silver rolled his eyes and shouldered his effects.

Ariah carefully crossed the gangplank, with her duffel bag of effects over one shoulder and Morph at her other shoulder, and she hopped onto the main deck.

The black-haired girl strolled down the polished deck of the RLS Legacy, walking down the steps into the lower deck. She walked through the hallway towards the crew's sleeping quarters. Ariah opened the glimmering wooden door and entered the dark room.

* * *

Lanterns cast amber rays of light across the crew's temporary lodgings, drawing sharp shadows around the room. Ariah set down her duffel bag down on the ground and began to set up her hammock near the centre of the room.

The long piece of white woven cloth would serve well as her bed for the voyage; and at least it would be much more comfortable than her previous bed at the inn... Ariah still had a kink in her neck from the _pillows._

* * *

The captain of the ship was an agile cat-human hybrid who was quick, commanding and extremely witty. Captain Amelia was her name and John Silver's crew all knew to stay on respectable terms with the likes of her rather than play around as they usually did with their previous commanders.

Captain Amelia wore a long blue coat -edged in gold- with a pair of white elbow-length gloves pulled over her clawed paws, a tri-pointed black hat –also edged in gold- that she wore over her pointed ears, and a long pair of black thigh-length high-heeled boots. The talented captain recognized what belong where at the exact correct time, down to the nanosecond. She clearly knew every inch of her ship, from the tip of the flagpole -bearing Montressor's national flag-, all the way down to the keel.

Captain Amelia's first mate was a stony-man with a kind heart, named Mister Arrow. He had a definite commanding air about him. The rock humanoid wore a distinctive three-pointed black cap and a large crimson coat that squared off his massive shoulders.

* * *

The two commanders both stood on the polished deck by the mainmast, inspecting their ship and assigned appropriate roles for each sailor. Silver was sent to be the crew's cook down in the Legacy's elaborate kitchen and most of the rest of his crew remained in their normal positions. Ariah was quick to inform both Captain Amelia and Mr. Arrow that she was no scullery maid and would serve as a sailor.

Captain Amelia agreed with Ariah's proposal, it would seem that she had a soft spot for young women pursuing careers outside the usual female roles. Captain Amelia then gave Ariah the same warning that misbehaviour would not be tolerated on her ship and she would be treated equally when it came to punishments.

Ariah couldn't agree more, happy of the change from her monotonous occupation.

The long wooden gangplank remained joining the RLS Legacy's main deck to Montressor Spaceport's docks. The remnants of Silver's crew hauled their supplies onto the ship and other provisions needed for the voyage. They were still waiting for someone.

* * *

Ariah was something of an inventor, and with the plenty of time on her hands she decided to work on her latest project. She usually worked on her inventions whenever Silver and his crew abandoned her on one of the spaceports… or whenever they were docked in at a spaceport _and_ she wasn't chasing the crew across town.

Her newest project was a bungee chord that she had designed to be small and compact, yet strong enough to hold up the heaviest person. The young inventor was hoping that this creation would effectively replace the twine lifelines as a more efficient means of saving lives aboard ships. The chord was a working progress, and Ariah had little time to test the invention before she would be busy with sailing duties.

That is if the invention failed to work…

* * *

The crew had finally settled, they all waited for the voyage's financier and whoever had the voyage's bearings to arrive. Ariah then decided, with the extra time on her hands, to begin testing out her invention.

The young woman clipped the elastic-twine rope onto a full body harness that she had purchased while waiting for Silver and the rest of his crew that morning. Then she scaled the mainmast of the tall ship with the aid of the strategically placed rope ladders. Ariah hitched the top of the long adjustable rope to the crow's nest, meeting up with Onus, the crew's lookout.

_"Another invention, Miss Clarke?"_ Onus asked, his accented voice made any spoken 'I' sound like an 'E'.

"Yep." Ariah nodded curtly, stretching herself out. "And this one will work."

The cascading inventor pounced from the broad mainmast, free falling towards the polished deck of the Legacy. The summer air circulating through the Legacy whipped her black ponytail behind her and warmed her face pleasantly.

Just as she would've crashed through the polished deck, Ariah tugged on one of the adjustments attached to her harness and bounced back up towards the crow's nest. She halted her ascent and quickly grasped onto of the booms that branched off of the mast, climbing up onto it and looking out onto the spaceport.

From where she stood, there was a fantastic view provided of Montressor's Lunar Spaceport. Hundreds of ships both tall and small were docking in and setting out for voyages. Millions of aliens greeted their loved ones with tight hugs and kisses. Others wished their treasured friends and family good luck for their voyage, hoping dearly for their safety and maybe for a spot of fortune to return with them.

* * *

Ariah's attention immediately switched to a quick figure somersaulting across the riggings at great speeds. It was Captain Amelia, who appeared to be checking the Legacy's status for any errors.

The last passengers must've approached her ship, giving her reason to give her ship one last check-over before they set out on the voyage. She hopped and twirled around the jungle of ropes and poles, and at times was literally walking vertically up the mainmast of her ship with nary a care.

On the main deck near the base of the mainmast stood two people, who weren't part of Silver's crew, they were likely the passengers for the voyage. One was the dog-faced alien that had hired their crew; beside him was a scowling teenage boy.

Ariah clearly noticed that the dog-faced alien was wearing one of the most ugly and outdated space suits that had ever graced her presence.

The teenager held a duffel bag over his shoulder, had messy brown hair with a braided rattail and a single piercing on his left ear. He glared at the sailors around him, clearly nervous about the voyage but determined to show no weakness.

Ariah snorted in disbelief, that's all their crew needed... a pair of tourists. She could tell, from her experience, that something was bound to go wrong.

* * *

Mr. Arrow was introduced as the Captain of the Legacy; he chuckled lightly at this flaw, glancing up at the riggings for Captain Amelia. As if on cue, Captain Amelia flipped through the last of the ships riggings and landed lightly beside her first mate.

The jaws of both of the male passengers dropped as they stared at Captain Amelia's uninjured blue-uniformed body. It was hard to decipher whether they were impressed by her lack of injury, her more-than-averagely attractive appearance, or both.

The captain's posture was straight like one of the solid wooden masts of her ship and she hardly remarked the fact she had leapt at least twenty feet. She paced towards the passengers.

Ariah watched as Captain Amelia affectionately complimented Mr. Arrow's eye for perfection, for the ship's over-exceeding status. The young sailor couldn't catch the rest of their conversation but leaned forward to see Captain Amelia curiously observing the dog-man's poorly maintained space suit, knocking on the window with her clawed gloves. Ariah had trouble containing her laughter but managed all right.

* * *

Suddenly something jostled the boom Ariah was standing on, and she slipped from her position on the mast. The female sailor quickly eased herself into an inverted position, which would slow down the velocity of her fall. The soles of her leather boots slowly skimmed the elastic rope, rubbing against the speed of her drop.

Ariah pulled an adjustment on her harness and halted herself between the Captain and the space-suited alien, just as they were about to begin a heated argument.

The dog-human hybrid leapt backwards a few feet with a yelp of alarm while Captain Amelia simply raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Mister Arrow also gave Ariah an odd look while the brunette teenager, who looked to be about Ariah's age, seemed caught between looking surprised and looking curious.

Ariah was suspended between the two hybrids. The end of her ponytail nearly brushed against the already impeccably clean deck. Her copper-brown eyes inquisitively observed her upside-down surroundings while her red bandanna served its purpose to push back her black bangs.

The black-haired teenager cleared her throat awkwardly. "So..." Ariah nervously glanced up at Captain Amelia and Mister Arrow with her copper-brown eyes. "Who _exactly_ are these two, uh…?" She then looked at the two new passengers from her inverted view, trying to find appropriate titles for them. "Gentlemen?" Ariah pointed at the two new passengers of the RLS Legacy.

"This is Doctor Delbert Doppler, astrophysicist." Mr. Arrow introduced the dog-faced alien who was wearing the rotund and rusty spacesuit; he then turned to the other passenger. "And this is Jim Hawkins..." He introduced to the brunette teenager. The first mate glanced at the captain for an appropriate position.

"He'll be working in the galley with Mister Silver as our cabin boy." Captain Amelia stated lightly.

"What?" The teenager named Jim suddenly exclaimed.

He glared angrily at the two commanders with his water-blue eyes. The dark glower had basically no dominating affect on either experienced spacer. Apparently he had been searching for a more glamorous job than cabin boy.

"Ariah Clarke," The inverted sailor introduced herself, still hanging upside-down. "Sailor for the majority of the time and head programmer if needed." She cleared her throat and smiled weakly. "Though I'm sure that I won't _have_ to reprogram anything in this ship, as it's already excellent enough." Ariah aimlessly flicked at the adjustments on her harness.

"Come with me Doctor Doppler, you as well Mister Hawkins." Captain Amelia began walking towards her quarters. "We have a few things to discuss in private." The feline turned to the upside-down sailor. "As you were, Miss. Clarke." She stated firmly.

"Aye Captain..." Ariah saluted to the commanders of the Legacy and the new passengers.

With a short tug of one of the strings on her harness, Ariah bounced back up to her position, wondering what Silver would make of this rebellious cabin boy. She was already feeling a little light-headed from hanging upside down for so long… and her face was quite flushed from the blood rushing to her head.

* * *

"All hands to stations!" Mister Arrow's commanding voice boomed.

The rest of the crew prepared to launch the Legacy from its reserved dock. Ariah positioned herself below the topsail on the mainmast.

Doctor Doppler and Jim walked back onto the deck, from the Legacy's galley. This seemed to be their first ship launch into space by their wide-eyed expressions.

"Loose all solar sails!"

The sailing crew quickly opened the series of fan-like solar sails on each of the three masts of the tall ship. Once secured, the fragile sails glimmered, reflecting the sun from which it absorbed its energy.

"Heave up the braces!" Called Mister Arrow.

"Braces up!" One of the crewmembers shouted.

Each sail began to absorb the bright sunshine; one of Silver's crewmen adjusted the power functions on the ship.

Suddenly everyone on deck began to float up towards the stars.

"Mister Zoff, engage artificial gravity." Captain Amelia ordered.

The flatula alien, partially suctioned to the deck, communicated an agreement and pulled the lever. A violet force field sprayed down through the ship. Everyone landed gracefully back into his or her previous positions… except for Doctor Doppler who landed on his head with a metallic THUMP! He was still wearing his ridiculous space suit.

"South by Southwest, heading two-one-zero-zero, Mister Turnbuckle!" Captain Amelia ordered to her temporary wheelman, ignoring the fallen astrophysicist at her side.

"Aye captain, two-one-zero-zero…" Mr. Turnbuckle answered as he steered the ship to its appropriate heading.

"Full speed, Mister Arrow, if you please." Captain Amelia stated once the RLS Legacy was in position for the launch.

"Take her away!" Mr. Arrow called down the mouth of a pipe, which communicated with the sailor working the RLS Legacy's generators.

Ariah braced herself against the mainmast of the Legacy, as did the rest of the sailors still up in the riggings. Mr. Arrow and Captain Amelia braced their legs against the deck, properly positioned for a launch. Jim mirrored this position, but Doctor Doppler seemed to be fussing over the Captain's blunt remark to mind his footing.

The ship soared towards the stars. It exited the Spaceport's farthest boundaries.

Suddenly there was a horrendously loud CRASH and Ariah looked over at the Legacy's aft where Doctor Doppler was planted in one of the walls. It was evident that he hadn't listened to Captain Amelia's advice.

Ariah shook her head solemnly and sighed at the hopeless hybrid, _'would he ever learn?' _

She doubted it... she extremely doubted it.

* * *

Later on, Silver sent his new cabin boy, out onto the deck for a thorough scrubbing after being briefly chastised by the captain.

Ariah lowered herself down from the solar sails' riggings, until she was just a few feet above the deck. There she could hear Jim accidentally bump into one of the crew's members while scrubbing the deck.

"Watch it, twerp!" The massive four-armed alien -named Mister Hands- bellowed angrily to the cabin boy before the Densadron continued on his way.

Jim moved out of the way and looked up from his mopping at a group of talking sailors.

They caught his eye and were silent. "What are you looking at, weirdo?" A head of an alien growled gruffly, using its burgundy hair to walk off of its body.

"Yeah..." A mouth opened in the alien's stomach and mimicked its head in a high-pitched voice. "Weirdo." Jim backed away from the alien nervously.

Ariah loosened some of the adjustments on her harness while pushing her leather boots against the mainmast of the Legacy and leaning back. She ignored the cabin boy and her fellow sailors for a moment and tried to get back to sleep. She wanted to catch up on the hours of sleep that she had missed while intoxicated from the previous night.

A gradual hiss and the click-clack of six pointed feet against the mainmast disturbed her slumber. The young woman instead listened closely while staying in her comfortable sleeping position.

"Cabin boys should learn to mind their own business." Scroop's recognizable voice hissed at the brunette teenager. "Why? You got something to hide, bright eyes?" Jim retorted. Ariah sighed quietly to herself. This guy was going to get the skin peeled off of his skull if he kept picking fights with sailors like Scroop. She listened closely and kept low-key. "Maybe your ears don't work so well." Scroop growled. Jim grunted. "Yeah..." He cleared his throat. "Too bad my nose works just fine." "Why, you impudent little-" Scroop snarled dangerously.

Suddenly there was a loud CRACK, which startled the mast. Ariah moved so suddenly from her sleeping position that she somehow slipped out of her harness. She landed on two figures, Jim Hawkins who was still held in the pincers of Mr. Scroop.

"Ow..." Ariah groaned faintly, rubbing the back of her aching head. Her bandanna had been pushed down over her eyes, blocking her vision. But she had landed on something relatively soft and could clearly hear some familiar noises; like the creaking of metal machinery, and a loud thump on every second footstep.

"Mister Scroop…" It was John Silver, though in the midst of the moment he was acting quite casual.

Ariah irritably pushed her bandanna back from her copper-brown eyes and looked up. It was Jim's torso that had broken her fall, and she was face to face with the cabin boy. The brunette teenager was watching Scroop and Silver rather than paying attention to her.

Silver bit into a purple purp. "Yeh ever seen what happens teh a ripe purp, when yeh squeeze real _hard_?" There was a creak of mechanics as something clamped down onto Scroop's free claw. Scroop released his hold on Jim with a loud hiss, and stepped away from the two teenagers. Silver gave the arachnid's arm a twist before pushing him back onto the deck.

"What's all this, then?" Mister Arrow's voice boomed. "There will be no brawling aboard this ship. Any further offenders will be confined to the brig… for the remainder of the voyage." The stony man turned to the crimson alien. "Am I clear, Mister Scroop?"

Scroop grumbled, until he spotted a warning laser glare shining out from Silver's mechanical eye. "Transparently." He murmured indifferently.

"Good." Mister Arrow turned to the other alien sailors. "And to the rest of you, back to your stations."

Ariah quickly rolled off of Jim's torso and steadied herself uneasily against the wooden railing of the ship. The rest of Silver's crew dispersed, returning to their workstations.

"Well done, Mister Arrow, sir!" Silver said enthusiastically. "A tight ship's, a happy ship." He quickly turned on the spot and snatched the mop up from the deck where Jim had dropped it. "Now Jimbo..." Silver's voice was back to its normal disciplinary undertone. "I gave yeh a job." He narrowed his eyes.

"I was doing it until that… bug thing attacked me." Jim retorted.

"Belay that!" Silver interrupted. "Jimbo, yeh need some common sense when handlin' this lot."

"Yeah as if there's any common sense among them," Jim retorted bitterly.

"Hey!" Ariah cut in, glaring at Jim.

"I wasn't talking about you!" Jim defended himself aggressively.

Silver shoved the mop back into Jim's hands. "Now I want yeh teh polish this deck 'til I can see me face in it. An' if I come back an' the job's not done-" He cut off his own statement. The aged cyborg motioned to the cotton candy-pink blob hovering at his shoulder. "Morph." He ordered. The transformer chirped. "Keep an eye on this, pup. An' let me know if there be any more distractions."

"Aye-aye." Morph saluted. He quickly enlarged his eyes so the were nearly the size of Jim's face and hovered around the young cabin boy.

Ariah narrowed her eyes, walking towards her dangling harness. She strapped herself back into it, tightening it a bit so she wouldn't slip out again. "By the way, you still owe me one for saving your butt." Ariah stated.

Jim rolled his water-blue eyes. "Yeah, right…" He scowled. "As if you actually _planned_ on falling."

"Maybe I did…" Ariah narrowed her eyes back at the cabin boy. "Someone's got to watch your neck since you seem so set on _intentionally_ getting it in the path of a guillotine." She tugged at the adjustments and sprung back to her station.

Jim growled. "Hey, you might as well thank me for breaking your fall!" He shouted to Ariah and continued mopping the main deck of the RLS Legacy.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I'll be sure to update...Thanks a billion to: Whisperwings for her beta services.

**MG#6**


	3. Testing Your Reflexes

**Author's Note:**

And now… we continue.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Testing Your Reflexes**

The new few days were lazy for the majority crew after the Legacy's launch at Montressor's Lunar Spaceport. Jim however, was kept busy with his cabin boy duties.

The eighteen-year-old was either scrapping the sticky space barnacles from the underside of the vessel, swabbing the deck clean until dusk, or learning basic sailing skills by John Silver himself.

* * *

One evening, Silver had cooked the crew a great supper of stewed astro-slugs with a side of pulped cedar bark. Although the ingredients appeared nauseating, the brew strengthened the crew's spirits and had it's own spicy kick.

The RLS Legacy's mess hall -being just barely separated from the galley itself- was warm with steam from the food and of the crew's conversation. After dinner, the crew left the tables jam-packed with stack upon stacks of soiled dishes.

The only considerate thing a few of the bunch had performed was pushing their benches out of the way. Some of them had overturned their benches or scraped the legs of their benches against the wooden flooring; leaving shallow marks in the mess hall's once immaculate floor. Then they exited the mess hall in a large raucous crowd and then they were gone, stomping off to their sleeping quarters.

Jim half-heartedly finished his portion of the dinner from the dark corner he sat in and sighed, preparing to clean up the incredulous mess that lay on the tables. He reached for one of the large empty pots that had contained the stew but it suddenly floated up towards the mess hall's low ceiling. Morph chirped from under the cast iron pot, he was shaped into a magenta hand, although sweat drops and whimpers of strain still came from him.

"So…" Jim smiled with a raised eyebrow. "…You're the only one helping me?" He sighed half-heartedly. "Well, I guess it's better than no one." He shrugged as he carried a large stack of plates towards the galley's counter.

"Oh he's not the only one, Mister Hawkins…" Ariah's recognizable voice drifted through the mountain of tableware.

The female sailor crept around a table with a wobbling stack of tableware in each hand.

"Don't I already owe you?" Jim asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Nope, favours are free whenever I feel like giving you one." Ariah glanced at Jim as she rotated her shoulders to try to find a more comfortable carrying position. "However, you still owe me for saving you from severe disfiguration." She added with a wink as she walked past Jim into the galley part of the mess hall.

* * *

Morph was turning the taps to the four sinks, revolving between different combinations of hot and cold water per sink. The pink blob pulled out a long brush for scrubbing and two puffed up dishtowels for drying, from the shelves of the galley.

"Catch anything I drop, Morphy." Ariah commanded as she balanced another large stack of plates past the mess hall's wooden tables.

"Aye-aye..." Morph squeaked. Ariah smiled at the little pink blob, setting down the wobbling stack onto the galley's grimy counter.

Once all of the tableware was stacked in the galley, Jim and Ariah both washed the tables and began stacking the pots and pans used to cook the dinner.

"Catch…" Ariah absent-mindedly flicked the long brush in Jim's general direction from over her shoulder.

Jim gasped and tossed the large cast iron pot into the air from surprise. The beech wood brush hit the bottom of the pot with a loud CLANG! The rebellious teenager watched the pot attentively as he positioned himself to catch the large container. With a muffled grunt the pot landed into Jim's arms. He tensed as his arms absorbed the strain of the pot's heavy weight.

The weary teenager lugged the pot over to another counter. He turned to the female sailor across the room, preparing to protest when suddenly a soggy towel hit his face.

"Is this your favour?" Jim mumbled; his face was masked over by the wet towel. Morph giggled at Jim while floating by Ariah's shoulder.

"I'm simply…" Ariah placed a dried dish on a slowly forming stack. "Testing your reflexes, Mister Hawkins." She smirked.

Jim removed the towel from his face and polished a nearby fork. "Oh, well in that case, Miss Clarke…" Jim tossed the fork at Ariah with a comedic TWANG.

With a swift dodge, Ariah caught the fork with between two fingers and tossed a pair of flying spoons at Jim. Morph transformed into a baseball glove, prepared to follow Ariah's orders. The brunette cabin boy clutched the soaring spoons and flung a variety of plates at the black haired girl. Ariah caught each one, cleaning and stacking them while tossing drinking kegs at Jim. Jim caught the kegs one-by-one and he polished them.

The cabin boy then reached over the counter and tossed a large bucket, full of serrated knives, at Ariah. Morph squealed in panic at this, changing from a baseball glove into his normal blobby form. Ariah seized an oak cutting board and she shielded herself from the knives' edges and quickly snatched the bucket by its handle to halt its aim at her head.

She smoothly pulled out her wet towel from her belt loop and polished each of the knives' blades, they were still wedged deeply into the thick cutting board.

With two large smirks, the duo of working teenagers kept tossing the soiled tableware at each other changing the monotonous task into an amusing competition.

* * *

After many hours of tossing tableware at each other and washing, polishing, drying and stacking them they had finished. All of the tableware was sparkling in the dank room.

Jim sighed hugging a large silver bowl to his side like a pillow as he curled up against a counter. Ariah sunk down the galley's wall and leaned against it.

"You…" Ariah panted. "Have _great_ reflexes, Mister Hawkins."

Jim smiled faintly. "You _can_ call me Jim, you know…" He laughed and began to yawn from fatigue. "But thanks… you're not… so bad… yourself." Slowly Jim dozed off, still clinging to the large bowl.

Ariah chuckled and prepared to leave the galley, but found that the hard galley wall was oddly comfortable and she quickly drifted off to sleep as well.

* * *

Silver had woken up just before dawn when he walked down to the galley. He was quite surprised to see both Jim and Ariah sleeping against opposite walls of the galley's wooden paneling. The galley glimmered with a mountain of cleaned dishes.

He smiled warmly, slipping his large leather coat over Jim's shoulders and friendlily ruffling Ariah's pitch-black tresses.

Morph opened his bulging eyes, rubbing them with his tiny handless arms. He spotted Silver, zoomed over to him and snuggled the cyborg's portly cheek affectionately.

The two companions left the sleeping teenagers in the galley for the time being, watching nearby stars lighten the galaxy they were currently traveling through, as morning approached…

* * *

Jim's ocean-blue eyes flickered open as he noticed the change in weight on his shoulders.

He located the bowl he had instinctively dropped while sleeping and placed it back onto the counter. Jim nervously shrugged off a long jacket from his shoulders. He gripped it and looked at it from end to end.

Jim dug into his own coat's outer pocket and located a fountain pen and a small piece of scrap parchment. In his unique scrawled writing he wrote one word, for that was all of the room he had available, _'Thanks'_.

Ariah stirred slightly from her sleep, leaving Jim little time to conceal his acts. The brunette cabin boy quickly stuffed the small piece of parchment into the depths of John Silver's jacket –without noticing that the nib of his fountain pen had popped off, hiding with his note- and then hung it up onto a nearby peg at the entrance of the galley.

The young sailor girl yawned, stretching her arms out in front of her. She blinked the sleep out of her copper-brown eyes and glanced at Jim.

"Morning…" Ariah smiled faintly, she stood from the galley's floor and stretched her arms in front of her.

"Uh." Jim rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Morning…"

"Well." Ariah brushed some of the dust from her baggy tawny pants. "I presume that there will be no interesting events on deck so." She paused and smiled at Jim. "I guess I'll, see you around... Jim." Ariah had nothing else to add so she exited the galley.

"Yeah… see you around, Ariah." Jim mumbled half-heartedly.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Yes, this chapter is considerably shorter than the last, but anyway… let's have a round of applause for:

-The awesome reviews

-And my remarkable editor Whisperwings

(HURRAY! Thunderous applause…)

**MG#6 **


	4. Mast Races

**Author's Note:**

And now we get to finally update!

* * *

**Chapter 4: Mast Races**

It seemed that Ariah Clarke had a strange sense of prediction, because the next two days on the RLS Legacy were completely eventless.

The solar winds travelling the Etherium -that fuelled the ship- weren't abnormal and no other ships could be seen throughout the entire galaxy.

Captain Amelia stated that these types of days were better for sailing. Ariah said they were boring, although knew that the female captain was indeed right. The sailor girl then spent most of her time observing her fellow crewmembers as well as mapping out a new series of inventions.

Although Jim was working for Silver as a cabin boy, Ariah couldn't help but see a connection growing between the two men. As if they were _actually_ getting along with each other.

One particularly uneventful afternoon, Ariah had fallen asleep –again- in her harness while leaning against the mast, because she had absolutely nothing better to do.

She breathed peacefully in and out, her suspended body swung gently from side to side in the soft solar breezes. Today, she was wearing her regular red vest over a loose ivory-coloured peasant top and a pair of tawny trousers.

From what she knew, Jim had been ordered to swab the deck and that was about it.

* * *

Suddenly there was a loud THUMP as something grasped her forearm and stretched her bungee chord so she was nearly touching to the main deck.

Ariah lazily opened her copper-brown eyes, already knowing the distinct grip on her forearm, and seen a long red face with a pair of big golden eyes.

"What do you want now, Scroop?" Ariah growled; she despised when people interrupted her slumber.

"You owe me a favour." The arachnid alien hissed.

"For what?" Ariah snapped.

Without warning, Scroop pulled Ariah fully out of her harness and she inelegantly landed onto the main deck with a surprised yelp.

"For preventing me from crushing that little whelp's bones to dust…" Scroop side-glanced in Jim's direction; the oblivious cabin boy was still swabbing the main deck.

Ariah glared back into Scroop's golden eyes. "I owe you nothing…" She tugged her forearm out of Scroop's grip.

"Well then…" Scroop backed away from Ariah; his voice was sickly-sweet. "Why don't we have a little challenge?" He narrowed his eyes and smirked coldly.

"How so?" Ariah raised an eyebrow in interest as she pulled herself onto her feet.

Scroop glanced at the mast momentarily and sneered. "First one up to the crow's nest and back owes the other a day of slavery."

"What kind of slavery?" Ariah carefully suppressed her temper.

Scroop snickered. "Any kind the other wishes…"

"And what if I refuse?" Ariah stated, folding her arms over her chest.

"Then you owe the entire crew a week's worth of slavery." Scroop stated plainly.

"Hey, that doesn't make sense!" Ariah shouted.

"What _does_ in this crew?" Scroop asked bluntly.

Ariah paused and smirked slightly. "True."

The female sailor paced away from the exigent alien. She pressed one hand against the mainmast's gleaming finish and rubbed the bridge of her nose. A long exasperated sigh exited her lips.

"Fine." Ariah turned to face the alien; her arms were crossed over her waist.

A substantial amount of the crew was waiting at Scroop's side. They had formed a crowd, curious about the change to the day's monotonous events.

"The first one to the crow's nest and back." Ariah glowered.

Jim then walked up to the crowd of alien sailors. "Um… What's going on?" He asked, glancing at Ariah and Scroop.

"You'll see, Cabin Boy…" Scroop glared at the two teenagers before clicking towards the mainmast. The scarlet alien turned to Ariah. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Ariah stated curtly.

She quickly stretched her arms and rolled the long sleeves of her ivory blouse back to her elbows. The teenaged sailor tightened her black ponytail, rolled her shoulders and breathed in deeply.

"The rules?" Ariah glanced at Scroop.

"There are no rules." Scroop responded flatly. "Just get to the crow's nest and back…"

"How 'bout _'no killing each other'_?" Ariah retorted.

Scroop rolled his golden eyes. "That's a given." He mumbled.

The two challengers faced the mainmast. Onus skittered down from his crow's nest position; a telescope was under one of his short peach-coloured tentacles and he gripped his navy-blue hat against his many-eyed head.

"I'll count!" The Optoc alien squeaked. He passed the competing sailors and hopped up onto the railing beside his fellow crewmen.

"Sheesh. No need to make this so official." Ariah rolled her copper-brown eyes, waiting to get this competition over and done with.

"One…" The alien squeaked, wrapping his legs around the railing of the ship.

Both of the competitors touched the sleek mast. Ariah concentrated her sailing instincts on beating Scroop.

"Two…"

Ariah paused and glanced back at Jim, who was looking more confused than ever. Ariah smiled smugly at this and returned her sight to the mast's glowing finish.

"Three!"

* * *

They were off. Ariah immediately snatched her bungee chord and began climbing as fast as her leather boots could muster.

Just behind her, Scroop agilely skittered up the mast, the tips of his tri-jointed legs made tiny impressions into the beautiful mast. Scroop's claws were free as he charged behind the female sailor.

With a couple of lunges, Scroop nearly snatched Ariah's ankles. The teenager continued climbing, dodging Scroop's attacks and bouncing off of the variety of riggings.

The two sailors were nearing the crow's nest and the intensity of their competition was increasing with every yard they climbed.

With one last leap Ariah grasped the crow's nest, kicked off its bottom and then dropped towards the deck. She held the end of her bungee chord in her hands as she continued falling towards the large crowd of sailors.

Using the heels of her leather boots against the mainmast, Ariah steadied her descent. But there were still plenty of riggings and the occasional swing of a solar sail boom to dodge.

* * *

The polished deck was approaching faster with all of the riggings Ariah bounced off of.

She then looked up momentarily and spotted Scroop. He was diving towards Ariah, his claws opened dangerously. His legs moved so quickly that she doubted they touched the mainmast's wood deeply.

Ariah then realized that this wasn't just some silly competition to Scroop. He was desperate to humiliate Ariah while they were on this voyage… but why?

The female sailor tucked her arms and legs closer to her body and somersaulted most of her descent to the deck. Once she could see her fellow sailors' jeering expressions she unrolled the sleeves to her blouse so that they caught the wind. Her ponytail whipped behind her and the floorboards drew nearer.

With a hasty tug of her bungee chord Ariah swung around one of the solar sails' booms, wrapping the rope around it a few times. Now slowed down adequately, Ariah released her grip from the bungee chord and landed lightly on the main deck in front of the crew of sailors.

Scroop spotted Ariah's change in direction, but it was too late. He had diverted his course and crashed forcefully into the wood of the boom.

Ariah winced slightly at the intensity of the sound made by Scroop's crash into the wooden boom. She looked up momentarily at the boom with Scroop on it.

The young woman had a feeling that Scroop's tough exoskeleton had done more damage to the boom than the boom had done to him. If the crimson arachnid had any possible injuries from the challenge, they were more likely to his pride rather than physical injuries.

Ariah glanced up at her fellow crewmembers innocently.

"I guess I win then, don't I?" She smirked.

The crew burst into cheers when suddenly…

"Well then…" A paced voice interjected. "Would anyone care to explain this _clearly_ to me? Or should I just start pulling rank?"

It was Captain Amelia, and she wasn't at all please about her damaged mast…

* * *

**Author's Note:**

And there you have it, a nice original scene that I made up on the spot… and it was so much fun to write!

Thanks to Whisperwings for editing this…

State your thoughts about this story with that little review button.

**MG#6**


	5. You are Evil

**Author's Note:**

And here's a new addition to the story, edited by the greatest beta I've worked with: Whisperwings!

Thanks so much!

* * *

**Chapter 5: You are Evil**

After several hours of trying to explain the damaged mast, and several rounds of pointing appendages at each other, Ariah and Scroop had thoroughly baffled both Mr. Arrow and Captain Amelia; up to the point where the well-brought-up superiors had to cut short the discussion for a calming tea break.

"They'll be back..." Ariah grumbled, turning to face Scroop, who was the only sailor that hadn't retired to dinner besides her.

"What?" Scroop hissed, noticing Ariah's very angry expression.

"Why did you have to use your stupid, bloody claws?" Ariah asked hopelessly.

Scroop snorted, rolling his golden eyes. He then rose up to his full height on his red and black stick-thin legs, looming over the human sailor. "If _you_ didn't force me to crash into that last boom, then the captain would've never known about the challenge…" He pointed the tips of his red pincers at Ariah's exposed neck.

Ariah glared back into Scroop's buggy, golden eyes; pushing aside his pincers and rising to her own full height; which wasn't much considering Scroop's tallness. "And if you had the smallest bit of grace then you wouldn't have smashed you freakin' face into the forsaken boom." She snapped, while poking Scroop's torso. "Furthermore if you didn't challenge me in the first place, then nothing would've happened!"

"I challenged you so I could pry you and that cabin boy... apart." Scroop glared down at her, his yellow orbs narrowing. "Methinks, that over the past few days you and him are getting a little too _close_…" Scroop stroked the side of Ariah's face with the tips of his pincers malevolently and sneered. "I didn't expect you to win." The crimson alien swiftly clicked away towards the mess hall.

"You expect too little, Mister Scroop…" The female sailor hissed venomously. "And you still owe me a full day's worth of slavery!" Ariah shouted at Scroop, she shook her fist at the threatening sailor. "I get to choose the day, and _then_ I'm sure you'll regret challenging me and for snooping into my business!"

Scroop gave Ariah a sharp back-glance, noticing that his intimidation had been taken far too lightly. He groaned to himself, knowing first-hand about Ariah's tormenting trails.

* * *

The galaxy seemed to grow darker; the nearby stars were orbiting behind planets and other space matter, blocking their twinkling rays of light from the Legacy's view.

"What was that all about?" Jim asked; he had just finished swabbing the Legacy's deck and was very curious about the whole mast-racing affair.

The cabin boy wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead; glancing at Ariah and waiting patiently for an answer.

"Which part?" Ariah enquired bluntly.

"Um… first the old-couple-like arguing, _then _the racing." Jim stated.

"Meh..." Ariah shrugged. She turned to face Jim. "Scroop and I always seem to argue like an old married couple." Ariah spotted Jim's suspicious look. "Uh… not that there's anything of that kind of relationship between us." She cleared her throat. "As for the racing, it's one of those random things we sailors do when nothing exciting happens around here…" She stated nonchalantly.

"O-K…" Jim gave her a strange look, like she was a crazy oddball.

Ariah wiggled her eyebrows at Jim curiously. "What, do you have any other ideas about what to do, Mister Hawkins?" She offered, leaning close to his face.

"Mmm…" Jim smirked slyly; he leaned closer and whispered softly in her ear. "I _might_ have a couple."

Ariah smirked mischievously back at Jim. Her bright copper-brown eyes flickered with intense curiosity.

* * *

"Jimbo!" John Silver's familiar boom called out in the cool space air. He lumbered up to where the two teenagers were. "Oh…" He locked his eyes on both of them standing so closely. "Pardon me for ruining yer moment." Silver chuckled heartily, lifting his triangular hat from his head and turning back around to his kitchens.

The two teenagers looked awkwardly at each other; and when Morph made kissing faces they laughed aloud. They both had to grasp the railing along the side of the ship to avoid falling overboard from laughter, their arms clutching their stomachs.

* * *

After their long-lasting laugh-attacks, the two flush-faced teenagers happily looked at each other, leaning against the railing of the Legacy.

"Maybe we should go down to the galley for supper," Jim offered.

"Yeah…" Ariah walked beside Jim towards the lower deck. "But at the rate I've been getting into brawls, I'll be in the brig by the end of the week." She stated.

"Don't give the Spider Psycho any ideas…" Jim raised his eyebrows in interest.

Morph quickly transformed into his mock image of Scroop and he whispered "Spider Psycho…" under his breath as he stalked both Ariah and Jim; his abnormally large claws snapping at them like hungry beasts.

Ariah laughed light-heartily. "You can guarantee that I'll cherish the day I choose for him to be my personal slave."

Morph gave himself a pair of wrist shackles and a steel ball attacked to each of his spindly legs.

The caricature of Scroop fell to the deck with a comically high-pitched, "EEK!"

"You are evil…" Jim stated. Morph returned to their eye-level, giggling loudly.

"Oh, I have my moments…" Ariah smirked; nudging Jim's shoulder playfully and pushing the doors open to the galley.

They all entered the noisy mess hall, hungry after a day's work.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Short: Yes...

Futile to the plot: Nope.

Thank you my dear beta, you're the best!

**MG#6**


	6. Space Whales

**Author's Note:**

Kudos to my awesome editor: Whisperwings

You truly are the greatest...

* * *

**Chapter 6: Space Whales**

"Yer both are on the first watch."

Silver chuckled as he looked at the lengthy list of sailors assigned to evening watches that was posted on the notice board just inside the RLS Legacy's galley. He rubbed his jowls suspiciously.

"Keep yer eyes on the stars an', perhaps we won't shipwreck." He laughed at himself, leaving Ariah and Jim to pout.

"Great." Ariah smirked playfully. "Now we're guaranteed to wreck."

She turned to walk on deck, while her fellow crewmates happily ate their large portions of dinner. Both Morph and Jim followed her into the chilling air.

"He just jinxed us!" Ariah hissed; though Jim could tell that she wasn't truly angry.

They walked across the length of the deck; Morph took the bow of the ship, Jim took the port side and Ariah took the starboard side.

All of them peered through the dark night, keeping watch for asteroids or any other creatures that could do harm to them or the Legacy.

* * *

"What's that?" Jim eventually called, referring to something on his side of the ship. Ariah hurried over and followed his pointing finger's direction.

"Why…" Ariah squinted hard. "It's a pod of Orcus Galactacus." She spotted the massive expanse of turquoise-blue blobs.

"Of… what?" Jim asked quizzically.

"Space Whales." Ariah stated, leaning over the portside railing to get a better view of the creatures as they floated closer to the ship. "I've haven't seen a pod this numerous in quite some time." She mused.

* * *

Out from the lower deck came Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler. The Captain was switching shifts with Mister Turnbuckle at the helm of her ship and apparently Doctor Doppler's sensitive ears must've picked up Ariah's observation.

"Orcus Galactacus." Doppler repeated in astonishment, pulling out a camera from the innards of his space suit and he began climbing aloft. "They're one of the most endangered species…" He pondered quietly to himself; "This must be their feeding grounds." He silently began counting them all, snapping many pictures of them.

* * *

"You want to get closer?" Ariah offered the ship's cabin boy.

"What?" Jim yelped in shock.

"To the whales of course!" Ariah stated as if it were obvious with a flat expression. She then walked out onto the net at the bow of the ship. "C'mon Jim!" Ariah beckoned, clipping her bungee cord to the edge of the ship and walking outwards.

Jim sighed. "Guess you're on watch Morph…" He said glumly.

"Aye-aye!" Morph squeaked, making his whole body into a pair of giant telescopic eyes and surveying the deck.

Jim walked out into the net, knotting a lifeline around his waist for safety. The Space Whales were barely brushing the bow of the ship as it moved forward through the galaxy.

A playful young whale spun happily around the base of the bow, dipping under the boat and returning to stare curiously at the two teenagers.

Ariah smiled leaning past the netting to gently brush the whale's side. "He's a healthy one." She murmured to herself.

"How can you tell?" Jim asked, cautiously reaching his hand out to pet the baby whale.

"Well… you see." Ariah flattened herself against the netting to examine the baby whale's white-blue eyes closely. "Its eyes aren't red with green rims, that would indicate that it was suffering from a sickness."

Ariah stroked the length of the whale's stomach, the baby whale cooed softly from this.

"And it has a light blue stomach and deep turquoise pattern on its back; which means its healthy, because the stomach turns pale yellow and the pattern on its back turns grey-green when it gets sick." The female sailor stated as the whale flipped over.

"How do you know all of this?" He asked looking back at her as the young whale retreated to its migrating mother.

Ariah smiled. "Silver taught me." She looked at Jim. "He also said that the space whales' eyes change from white-blue to a deep blue as it ages."

"Wow." Jim stared at the tiny whale, noticing the difference between its eyes and it's mother's eyes.

Up above them they saw a large bull whale circling around Doctor Doppler. "Say cheese!" The dog-human hybrid called to the space whale.

"Uh Doctor, you should be careful about that end-" Captain Amelia warned sharply, but it was too late.

The bull whale ejected a fountain of snot at the shutterbug through his blowhole, just after the doctor had snapped a photo of his back.

Thankfully Doctor Doppler was wearing his ridiculous space suit, giving everyone a valid excuse to dispose of it... plus the doctor managed to get a decent snapshot of the bull space whale before it sprayed him.

* * *

Cautiously Ariah and Jim exited the bow's net as the pod of Space Whales left, they untied themselves from the bow and quietly resumed their watch positions.

Captain Amelia smiled lightly. Meanwhile Doctor Doppler was trying to get his suit off and Morph, Jim and Ariah were trying to force back their chorus of laughter.

When Doctor Doppler went below deck to remove his suit, the trio of watchmen finally had a chance to relieve their laughter.

Then they subtly began cracking jokes about the poor shutterbug.

* * *

The teenaged cabin boy was just about to open his mouth for a witty comment to Ariah's joke when the Legacy suddenly tilted on its starboard side.

Jim slide down the width of the deck, nearly toppling over the edge. Ariah rapidly grabbed Jim by the back of his jacket, grasping the railing of the Legacy tightly herself.

When the deck returned to its level position they both steadied each other. Then Ariah ran to the helm of the RLS Legacy.

"Captain, your orders?" She called up.

The cat-woman gripped forcefully to the large, wooden wheel of her ship, her feet planted in a concrete stance. "Miss. Clarke, come up here and try to access the additional solar generators, we're losing power!"

"Aye Captain." Ariah skipped up the wooden steps two at a time until she was beside Captain Amelia. Ariah went straight for the main control panel, reading the variety of controls and the ship's status reports.

"Mister Hawkins!" Mr. Arrow's voice commanded, as he quickly exited the captain's quarters; "Get the rest of the crew out here immediately!"

"Aye, Mister Arrow." Jim was about to prove himself useful to the two alien superiors.

Or so he hoped…

* * *

Jim hurried into the mess hall, staring at the large group of feasting sailors; they didn't seem to notice the previous ship tilt.

It wasn't until the wooden mess hall door on the main deck slammed closed loudly behind Jim from the aftershock of the jolt that the sailors paid attention to him.

"The Captain wants all hands on deck, it's an emergency!" Jim stated.

The sailors hooted at the brunette teenager, disbelieving a mere cabin boy. Their horrendous laughter echoed through the mess hall's wooden walls.

Jim scowled at himself and at the sailors but another ship jolt tilted the mess hall topsy-turvy, telling the lazy sailors other wise.

The brunette cabin boy was about to join the herd of sailors back out on deck when suddenly a large hand pulled him into the galley section of the mess hall.

"Nice work Jimbo." Silver complemented; friendlily half-dragging half-leading Jim towards the shelves of tableware. "Now we'll need teh secure everything in 'ere." He rubbed his hands together.

Jim looked up at the towering piles of pots and plates. "Everything?" He groaned miserably at the mountainous task.

"Aye." Silver's mechanical eye glinted with determination. "Everything."

* * *

Meanwhile back up on the upper deck, things were becoming a bit chaotic.

"We're losing all power Captain!" Ariah reported to Captain Amelia, getting back up onto her feet after the most recent tip.

"Curses." Captain Amelia gripped the wheel securely with both gloved paws and turned to her first mate. "Mister Arrow, retrieve Doctor Doppler: we'll need his astronomy know-how on the currently situation."

"Aye, Captain." Mr. Arrow lumbered down into the Captain's Quarters to find Doctor Delbert Doppler.

"Close the solar sails!" Captain Amelia ordered, weaving the R.L.S. Legacy through the asteroid field.

"Planet ho!" Onus reported from the crow's nest.

* * *

Ariah rapidly tried to hack the Legacy's system through the control panel using all of the programming skills she knew off her head to fix the solar energy crisis. Error messages appeared after every command she entered, it wasn't the system's security that was a problem… it was the lack of power from the depleting solar generators.

She peered over the control panel, spotting the large planet off the port side of the Legacy. She smacked her fists against the control panel in frustration; the solar generators wouldn't be enough to replace the amount of energy needed to keep the ship hovering through space.

"Ma'am…" Ariah turned to her Captain. "We'll need to dock at the nearest space port; we're losing a tenth of a cell of the alternate solar generator power every second and at this altitude we're going to likely crash."

"I've retrieved Doctor Doppler, Captain." Mr. Arrow stated, escorting the dog-faced astrophysicist beside Captain Amelia; thankfully he had removed his space whale snot-covered space suit.

"Excellent Mister Arrow, as you were." Captain Amelia turned to Delbert. "Doctor, which planet are we approaching?"

"Well…" Doctor Delbert pushed up his round glasses up to his chocolate-brown eyes and peered through his gilded telescope. "Judging by the dark atmosphere, and its twenty orbiting moons, we're approach-"

"Winterchill!" Ariah gasped, interrupting Doctor Delbert's statement.

"Correct, we appear to be approaching it during its seasonal eclipse;" Doctor Doppler speculated rapidly as he collapsed his pocket telescope. "A time where all twenty moons block the light of the nearest star –Alpha Omega Seventeen- thus cloaking the entire planet in darkness, though only for twenty-four hours. At which time, the moons will return to their regular orbits."

"So we're going to have to dock there..." Ariah groaned, knowing of the planet's frigid weather and its extra-terrestrial inhabitants.

"Everyone, brace yourselves!" Mr. Arrow boomed to the sailors on deck as Captain Amelia turned the Legacy towards the shadowy atmosphere of Winterchill, plunging them through.

* * *

Then the entire ship was erased from their sights. The darkness was thick enough to cut with a butcher knife. Ariah tried to wave her hand in front of her face, only feeling the minute breeze of chilly air.

Suddenly the Legacy's solar powered hovering mechanisms faltered, and the ship tilted vertically, bow-first, towards the icy wasteland that was Winterchill. Ariah grabbed the control panel with one hand and felt around her waist with the other, she found her retracted bungee cord and one-handily lashed it around the railing of the ship.

A blast of freezing cold arm hit them like the darkness did. The strong whiplash of cold snowflakes battered everything and everyone on the upper deck.

Something hard collided with Ariah's forehead. She closed her copper-brown eyes, pain flashed through her skull as she saw the same darkness as the unknown atmosphere, and then she lost her consciousness. Her bungee cord became taut as she was pulled along parallel to the ship's deck.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Enjoy!

**MG#6**


	7. Bundle Up

**Author's Note:**

Thank you my dear editor... you're so helpful.

How 'bout a cheer for Whisperwings?

ONE, TWO, THREE: Yay...

* * *

**Chapter 7: Bundle Up**

Their landing was far more graceful than expected. When Ariah regained conscious she could see why. Of course she wasn't actually able to anything see at all, but the chilling blanket of snow that surrounded her made things pretty clear. Ariah shook the damp cold from her body, pulled herself to her feet and blindly groped forwards through the darkness.

When her hand bumped into the control panel, Ariah released her tied bungee cord and reached around, looking for the emergency lamps. She hit her knees against the metal panel a few times, cursing silently but she eventually found the chord that lit the lamps.

Ariah briskly pulled the chord, revitalizing the ship with oil-powered lamps. Slowly the blackness was pushed away and she was able to see the Legacy's overall damage in an aura of dim flame-lit light.

Well, their soft landing on the snow-covered planet hadn't done any initial damage to the ship; the crew however was a different matter. Most of them, who hadn't been below deck like Jim and Silver, were either hanging on the riggings by their lifelines or they were sprawled across the deck, covered in snow.

Ariah looked behind her; slowly Mister Arrow and Captain Amelia came to, they were still behind the wheel, their lifelines lashed to the sides of the ship.

They were obviously surprised that they could see on the dark planet but they immediately discovered what Ariah had done and reassumed their superiority.

"Right then." Captain Amelia brushed some snow off of her shoulder. "Mister Arrow."

"Aye, Captain?" The rocky first mate turned to his feline superior.

"Assess all of the crew's positions." She commanded briefly.

"Aye, Captain." Mister Arrow turned away from them and marched down the aft's stairwell to do a head count of the sailors.

"Wait…" Ariah realized. "Where's Doctor Doppler?" She asked the captain as she looked around for the aforementioned hybrid. "He was right here before we entered the atmosphere."

"Hmm…" The cat-woman furrowed her brow in thought, her agile ears straining to pick up any familiar sounds.

And then there was a coughing behind them… The two female sailors turned to the stern of the ship and saw a rope crudely lashed to the railing.

"A little help; if I might be so bold to ask…" A helpless whimper asked from the snow-covered stern.

"Doc?" Ariah rushed forward and leaned over the railing of the ship, pulling the dog-man back onto the deck by the forearms. "Are you all right?"

"I should be." He said, untying his lifeline and shaking the snow off of him. "Assuming the snow storms in the next twenty-four hours don't bury us." He brushed the powder snow from the creases of his ivory-coloured shirt's sleeves. "We'll all be all right." He then gave his spectacles a quick wipe.

"Quite right." Captain Amelia nodded curtly.

"I'm going to check below deck to see what's happen there." Ariah said. "I'd advise you to bundle up." She added to the astrophysicist.

The female sailor then walked from the aft down the galley. She literally had to dig her way through the heavy snow clotting the stairwell in order to reach the lower deck.

* * *

"Glad to see that things are okay down here." Ariah said bluntly, shaking the snow from her black ponytail.

"Are you kidding?" Jim shouted, obviously distressed. "We were at risk of getting killed in here!" He shouted in an unusually highly pitched voice.

"Fine." Ariah rolled her copper-brown orbs. "I'm kidding."

Silver looked over Ariah cautiously. "That's quite a patch of purp yeh 'ave there, darling." He pointed to Ariah's forehead.

Ariah gently touched the tender spot on her forehead and sighed. "Morph would be useful right now…" She shoved her hands into her trouser pockets. "He's like an ice pack when it comes to bruises…" The female sailor allowed a pause and then blinked with a sudden realization. "Wait a minute… Where is Morph?"

"He wasn't with you?" Jim yelled urgently. The cabin boy quickly rushed out of the galley up onto deck.

"Hey, it was far more dangerous up there than it was down here!" Ariah quickly retorted as she ran up the slippery wooden steps after Jim.

* * *

"Morph!" Jim yelled at the top of his lungs into the chilling air. He ran to another end of the deck and kept yelling for the little blob to come to him.

"Jim, wait!" Ariah called up to him, sensing something in the air.

A sudden burst of wind felled the brunette teenager; Ariah and most of the experienced sailors were however still relatively on their feet.

Ariah cautiously walked up to the fallen cabin boy. "You can't just go running around, Jim." She reprimanded gently as the aforementioned teenager quickly hopped back onto his feet. "The weather here is dangerous, especially the wind." Ariah stated as-a-matter-of-factly. "If you hear the wind whistle, then you need to brace yourself for the worst…"

"Now you tell me." Jim grumbled irritably. He shuffled along the side of ship and kept his hold on its railing.

Ariah sighed, _'men…'_ She thought blandly. Then she continued to search for the wayward morph.

* * *

Eventually Ariah spotted a bubble-gum pink blob embedded in a corner of the bow.

"Morph?" She whispered softly to the transformer.

There was a frightened whimper from the blob's innards.

"You did good Morphy…" Ariah smiled warmly. She knelt down to Morph's eye level and offered her cupped hands to the tiny, frightened glob.

Morph chirped out of fear, slowly emerged from the dark corner and cuddled Ariah's numb fingers.

"Did you find him?" Jim asked, walking up to the sailor.

Ariah silently nodded, turning to face Jim. "He's really scared." She showed the cabin boy the baffled blob in her palms.

Jim's pale blue eyes widened in concern as he gently stroked Morph's rubbery back.

"I don't blame him…" The cabin boy shrugged.

Slowly, Morph slithered from Ariah's palms to wrap around Jim's fingers in a hug. The two humans couldn't help but smile at the little blob.

Morph then immediately chirped happily and zoomed off to see if Silver was all right too.

"We should get our winter wear out." Ariah stated to Jim.

The chilling wind began to whistle slightly. A flurry of snowflakes caught Jim by the back and Ariah quickly steadied him by the shoulders before he could fall forwards.

Ariah looked over Jim. "You did remember to bring winter wear… right?" Ariah raised an eyebrow at the cabin boy.

"Sure." Jim thought. "That is, if Morph hasn't stolen it yet…" He smirked slightly.

Ariah weakly smiled. Then the two teenagers noticed how close they were standing together and Ariah released her grip on Jim's shoulders.

They stepped slightly away from each other and began shuffling towards the lower deck with the intention to retrieve their winter attire before the wind started to whistle again.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thank you to the reviewers and my beta, you are all awesome!

**MG#6**


	8. Blow up the Stoves

**Author's Note:**

Once again, oodles of "Huzzahs" to my beta: Whisperwings.

And we'll continue with another short chapter to build on the mysterious and probably dangerous planet: _Winterchill!_

* * *

**Chapter 8: Blow up the Stoves**

Ariah walked the length of the dimly lit sleeping quarters, now much darker because of Winterchill's atmosphere. She dodged the maze of hammocks, finding her own in the furthest corner of the quarters with Morph huddling in the depths of her duffel bag, wrapped tightly around the sleeve of her ivory-coloured coat.

"Morph…" She grumbled irritably, trying to remove the pink transformer from her winter coat's sleeve. "I need this." She tugged the coat from Morph's iron grip.

The pink blob shivered, whimpering loudly from the cold. Ariah rolled her copper-brown eyes at Morph's overdramatic display. The young woman gave in to the morph's innocent eyes and pocketed him.

"Behave, Morphy." Ariah chided.

"Aye-aye!" Morph squeaked.

Ariah slipped on the coat and dug through her bag, quickly locating her gloves and pulling them on. Lastly she pulled her bandanna out of her hair, released it from its ponytail and slipped on her pair of fuzzy earmuffs. Then the young sailor zipped her duffel bag closed once more and walked back towards the door.

Before she exited the sleeping quarters, Ariah pressed her ear-muffed ear against the wooden door, listening closely for any whistling. When there was none, the young woman opened the door, kicked aside the small pile of snow that was already forming at the steps into the crew's quarters, and exited the lower decks.

She slammed the door shut and hurried back onto the main deck; most of the crew was still untangling themselves from their lifelines and getting warmed up.

* * *

While Mister Arrow was giving orders and assessing the damaged to both the crew and the ship, there was a loud hum. Not like the weather. It was coming from below deck.

Ariah looked at cabin below the helm of the RLS Legacy. The humming grew louder and dark smoke began spewing from the double doors to the galley.

"Get down!" Ariah yelled as loudly as she could. She flattened herself against the deck and covered her head and neck with her arms.

* * *

As she predicted the humming buzzed out and the double doors down to the galley blew off their hinges with a loud BANG. The mess hall's doors flew off of the ship and out into the dark abyss.

Ariah cautiously lifted her head, looking around at the strewn crew; they were all getting back onto their feet once more.

Moments later, two coughing figures emerged from the galley, waving the thick smoke from their heads.

"What happened?" Ariah hopped onto her feet, running up to the two men.

"Something blew in the main power generator." Silver stated through coughs. "An' that in turn blew the stoves teh kingdom come…" The cyborg flapped away the remaining smoke from his face with his hat. "We won't be able teh get any warm meals prepared with the stoves out." He looked around. "An' heaven knows we'll need hot food for weather like this."

"Are you out of fuel in your arm?" Ariah asked the larger sailor.

"Just 'bout quarter's ways there…" Silver stated, gripping the wrist of his mechanical arm nervously with his organic hand.

Ariah pondered for a moment, looking the two men over. Jim had only just extinguished the small flame at the shoulder of his coat with a brush of his hand and most of Silver's shirt was caked in soot.

"You sure you're okay?" The female asked in concern.

They both nodded and Ariah stepped away, thinking about solutions.

"Captain!" She called up to the aft.

"Yes?" Captain Amelia appeared at the railing.

"The stoves are out in the galleys but there _is_ a port nearby that could definitely accommodate us." Ariah waited patiently for the captain's response.

Captain Amelia furrowed her brow in thought, turning away from them for a moment to think, and then she turned back to her crew.

"Can you tell how far it is from here?" The blue-eyed captain enquired.

Ariah cleared her throat. "Yes." She pointed out from the starboard side.

Despite Winterchill's shadowy atmosphere, a faint beam of orange light could be seen piercing through the darkness. This was Winterchill's capital city, Gyrogga.

"It should be only a few miles' walk." Ariah stated.

The cat-woman narrowed her eyes in consideration. She walked the width of the aft, her left gloved hand at her chin.

She swiftly turned to Silver. "You say _all_ of our stoves are out, Mister Silver?"

"Aye Captain." Silver nodded. "Every last one of 'em."

Captain Amelia turned to Ariah. "And you say that's it's only a few miles' walk."

"Aye." Ariah stated. "Even in this weather it should only take a few hours."

The captain sighed, murmuring to her self in thought. "We'll pick up provisions at that port, stay for the night until the eclipse has pasted, then we'll be back on our course the moment everything is back in order." She looked up in confidence. "Mister Arrow."

"Aye Captain?" The stony man's booming voice asked.

"Tell the crew that we'll dock in port." She stated, pacing the front of the wheel in thought.

"And the ship, Captain?" He asked.

"The Legacy will be staying in her current position, that is, until we've repaired and rebooted the main generators." The female captain assured them. "Until then, we're waiting out this _obscure_ of solar energy."

"Aye Captain." Mister Arrow left to give his orders to the rest of the crew.

"I hope you're up for a stroll in the snow." Ariah patted Jim on his charred coat's shoulder. "In the dark." She added with a wink as she casually sauntered off.

Jim rolled his light blue eyes scowling after the female sailor. "Exactly, why is she mean to me?" He asked the larger sailor standing beside him.

"Oh, I'd reckon, she's probably taken a shine teh yeh, Jimbo…" Silver chuckled.

"Oh yeah, 'cause I'm so obviously irresistible." Jim rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Then again, Ariah is a woman." Silver added. He shook his head. "Hardly any man knows why they do what they do." Silver walked off to prepare his effects.

Jim groaned miserably and held his head in his hands.

Why did female kind have to be so unnecessarily complex and confusing?

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks for the reviews! I love them all... and thanks to my beta (Whisperwings) for her colourful editing skills!

**MG#6**


	9. Gyrogga

**Author's Note:**

My Beta just graced me with an idea for the next chapter...

THANK YOU Whisperwings!

* * *

**Chapter 9: Gyrogga**

There was a long procession of them following in each other's footsteps; the vicious cold was biting at them briskly. Heavy snow piled up on their boots as they wadded through the drifts. The wind toppled the unready every few minutes, but they continued zealously trudging towards the port.

Silver walked between Doctor Doppler and Jim, his hands shoved in the outer pockets of his long billowing coat. Morph was floating at Silver's shoulder, constantly zooming between they cyborg and Jim to keep himself warm. The cook, cabin boy and astrophysicist dragged their boots behind the leading trio of troopers. Captain Amelia, Mister Arrow and the one who was navigating them all, Ariah.

"Just another hour of walking and we'll be there." Ariah stated more to herself than to anyone else, but the wind was likely too loud for anyone to notice her ramblings. The teenaged sailor toddled slightly behind Mister Arrow through the snow, so she wouldn't get stuck in the drifts.

Captain Amelia, of course, was so light and agile that she could walk atop of the surface of the snow, barely making an impression in the snow. Their only concern was of her getting blown away, but that was out of the question considering her natural instincts.

Every once in a while Ariah would stop to plant a beacon stake of light. It was tall enough to avoid getting buried by the constant blizzard of snow and bright enough so she could clearly see their path to and from the Legacy.

* * *

Soon enough, as Ariah had predicted, they had arrived at the Snow Burst Inn, the main inn and eatery in Winterchill's capital city, Gyrogga.

Ariah sighed from fatigue and retrieved the last lantern she had been given. She hit a button at the centre of the collapsible stake. The lantern hanging from its end jolted to life and the stake extended to its full length. Ariah planted the last stake into the icy ground as the rest of the crew gathered up around their commanders.

"Right then." Captain Amelia straightened out her blue coat. "We'll be staying the night here. At the first sign of the eclipse's passing, everyone is to head back to the Legacy, no exceptions. We have a generator to repair and other such vital issues." Captain Amelia nodded curtly to permit them to leave.

Most of the crew lumbered into the eatery and pub of the inn. Mister Arrow, Doctor Doppler and Captain Amelia went straight to the inn to book their rooms. That left Silver, Ariah, Jim and Morph standing out in the chill of the dark.

"Well." Ariah shoved her hands in the outer pockets of her ivory coat. "Why don't we get something to eat now, before the rest of the crew empties the kitchens?" She offered with a reassuring smile.

"Sounds good to me." Jim stated, hungry from the long walk.

"I'll take a rain check, Ariah." Silver cut-in. "I've got teh refill this arm before she empties."

"Get real Silver…" Ariah rolled her eyes. "You haven't eaten all day."

"I 'ave so!" Silver retorted. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"And when would that have been?" Ariah asked with flat eyes.

"I sample what I make…" Silver rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, and the last thing you made was lunch." Ariah snapped. "Seven hours ago!"

"I ate some purps on the walk 'ere." Silver nervously backed away from the two teenagers who were closing in on him.

"You gave them all to Morph." Jim interjected.

Before John Silver could come up with another comeback, the two teenagers and Morph heaved him towards the Snow Burst Inn's eatery.

"Look at yeh two…" Silver chuckled to the young teenagers and stopped resisting their strength. "Babying me as if I was yer own."

"Well we wouldn't _have_ to if you didn't act like such a big baby." Ariah reprimanded.

Silver laughed heartily and pushed open the door to the inn. Ariah removed her earmuffs, stuffing them into one of her coat pockets, and she shook the snow from her hair.

They kicked off as much of the packing snow from the bottoms of their boots on the front entrance's welcome mat before locating a table.

* * *

Once they sat at one of the tables a speedy alien scooped up some soiled dishes and gave each one of them a glossy menu. The patrons were silent for a moment as they each examined their choices of foods.

Morph casually zoomed out of Ariah's pocket, looking at her menu and pointing at the most elaborately coloured meal.

"You sure Morphy?" Ariah enquired. "It's the spiciest food in this galaxy." Morph squeaked with determination, nodding his blobby head. "All right then." Ariah closed her menu and shrugged.

A new alien waitress with long white curls piled up in a loose bun at the top of her head and rubbery neon green skin pulled tightly over her face walked to their table.

"Purp juice?" She offered a jug of the violet liquid clutched in her yellow elbow-length glove, her uniform was a long dress in the same colour edged in deep blue.

The three sailors nodded.

The green-skinned waitress quickly filled their glasses with purp juice and answered smoothly. "I'll be back soon, to take your orders." She smiled.

Jim looked up from his menu. "What are you getting?" He asked Ariah.

"Volcanic Lava Bursts." Ariah smirked.

"Ariah…" Silver scolded.

"Hey." Ariah retorted. "It wasn't my fault that Morph turned into a fireball the last time we were here!" She stated pointedly and sighed. "Apparently he can handle it this time."

"Apparently." Silver rolled his eyes.

Jim just looked at Silver and Ariah confusingly and then decided _not_ to order the spiciest dish of the galaxy.

* * *

Eventually the men made up their meal choices; Silver with an order of Purpaya Sashimi and Jim with an order of Powdered Cosmo Cakes. The alien waitress returned to take their orders and they waited out the preparation and cooking time.

There was an awkward silence. The three friends couldn't do much but think about what had happened so far. Morph gave them a short entertaining performance across the table, often dancing with the salt and pepper shakers and parading on their napkins.

Finally a delicious aroma filled the air, their food was ready. The green-skinned waitress arrived at their table, carrying their three dishes.

"Powdered Cosmo Cakes." She placed the dish of chocolate-covered shortcakes with thickly diced fruits at Jim's place. "Purpaya Sashimi." She placed the dish of cubed purps, chopped fish and other galactic stir-fried vegetables at Silver's place. "And; Volcanic Lava Bursts." She placed a large, sizzling dish of spiced meats and vegetables in front of Ariah. "Enjoy!" The waitress nodded sweetly as she left to accommodate another table.

"Right then." Ariah's copper-brown eyes lit up as she speared a tiny vegetable on her fork and offered it to Morph.

Morph looked at the vegetable, narrowed his eyes determinedly and chomped it off of the fork in a mere second. It only took a split second after Morph had eaten the vegetable to realize that he was changing colour. Rather than his normal cotton candy pink, the tiny blob was flaring up to a brick red.

"Uh oh." Ariah and Silver said at the same time.

* * *

"WAH!" Morph squealed loudly, bursting into a fireball formation. He zoomed around their table in circles.

Silver quickly snatched the tiny fireball out of the air with his mechanical hand –before the burning transformer could do some major collateral damage, _again_- and he dropped Morph into his glass of purp juice. This resulted in a small cloud of steam rising from the mouth of Silver's glass, followed by a lengthy hiss as Morph cooled off.

No one was looking at them strangely, nor looking at them at all. This, or something like this, was usually something commonly seen at this inn.

Morph wallowed in Silver's purp juice, absorbing every last violet drop of it and extinguishing the flames from his body. Once his skin was back to its normal hue Morph lazily floated out of glass and looked at the three humans.

"Next time Morph." Ariah's eyes were flattened, without surprise. "We order something less spicy." She forced a smile.

"Mmm hmm…" The blob agreed cheerfully with a wide smile.

The tiny transformer carefully avoided Ariah's plate, as if it were a terrible monster. He was soon staring hungrily at Jim's cakes and Silver's sashimi.

The two men offered tiny chunks for the tiny transformer and they continued eating peacefully. Ariah seemed completely at ease eating the galaxy's spiciest meal.

* * *

Once they were done, they each footed their own portion of the bill and left the restaurant. They walked a ways through the streets of Gyrogga until they arrived at a mechanic's shop to purchase the appropriate fuel for Silver's mechanical arm.

It only took a few pieces of gold to refuel Silver's arm and then the group of friends were back off to the Snow Burst inn to book their room.

Something in the dark alleys of the capital city startled Morph and he zoomed to Jim's shoulder in fright.

"What is it Morph?" Jim asked the pink transformer.

Morph whimpered loudly. The pink blob looked into the shadowy alley fearfully with wide, terrified eyes. Jim couldn't see anything through the thick darkness.

"It's okay, Morph…" Jim patted the frightened transformer on the head.

_"Oh, but it's not!"_ A voice snickered as a thin and scrawny alien emerged from the shadows, standing in front of them.

The three friends stopped their walk to the Snow Burst inn at the sight of this barbaric alien. The dusty dark brown furred alien was hunchbacked and was thin enough to see the spaces between each rib in its ribcage.

The twitching alien glared at them with a pair of large, bloodshot eyes and its mouth was frozen in a permanent smile of bloodstained fangs. The wolf alien wore tattered dark blue shorts with nothing to cover its scrawny torso, and it had paws for hands and feet –each with a set of very sharp-looking claws- to reinforce its canine lineage.

A brawny alien soon stepped out of the shadowy alley after the wolf-like alien, blocking the street behind the quartet. He wore ragged pants and an open-chest vest, exposing his large pectoral muscles. His skin was rubbery and had a light green hue. The massive alien had a square jaw and humongous shoulders.

A few more hefty green-skinned aliens surrounded the three friends, each with a bunch of wolf-aliens at their feet. The curs looked hungrily at the humans, and the green-skinned aliens looked to be around for a fight.

_"Sick 'Em Boys!"_ The first wolf-alien howled. He and his brethren charged through the barrier of green-skinned aliens at the quartet.

* * *

Morph cried out in fright, Jim hollered and the two sailors stood back to back. Silver clicked at something in his arm, looking determinedly at the mobsters.

The first wave of wolves bounded towards them and Ariah shouted angrily as she knocked away three wolf aliens. Her loose hair whipped against her face as she turned to punch away another wolf-alien that was about to pounce on Jim's back.

Silver retrieved a laser pistol from his mechanical arm, and threw it to Ariah, and then he used his metal arm as a club to bash away the curs.

The laser pistol quickly charged up and Ariah fended off as many wolf-aliens as she could. After shooting a few rounds, Ariah was knocked aside by a rock-hard punch from one of the green-skinned aliens.

Ariah tumbled to the snow-covered ground. She curled up in a ball, to guard her stomach from the wolf-aliens that leapt on her. The dusty-haired wolf-aliens tore at Ariah's clothes with their serrated claws and nipped at what they could with their fangs.

Jim dived at the wolf-aliens attacking Ariah while Morph changed himself into a baseball bat and began mercilessly beating off the wolf-aliens. The brunette teenager kicked away as many of the beasts off as he could, before another green-skinned alien knocked him back into the centre of the circle at Silver's feet.

Angrily, Silver dove his mechanical arm through the pile of wolf-aliens and he fished out Ariah from the bottom. Jim and Morph fended off the wolf-aliens surrounding them as best as they could.

Feebly, Ariah pulled herself back onto her feet, trying to recuperate. She had a dreadful feeling about this fight. She was roughened up badly around her arms and legs, and she could already feel painful bruises forming along her back.

* * *

Suddenly, a shadowy figure skittered along the walls of the dark back alley. It launched itself at two of the green-skinned aliens that were standing in the shadows, viciously taking them out before they could even notice its arrival. Ariah glanced at the figure quizzically and then continued fighting off the wolf-aliens.

The figure made short work of the other green-skinned aliens and then leapt into the dim streetlight to finish off the wolf-aliens in the clearing.

All of the fighters could see that the shadowy figure was in fact Mister Scroop. The crimson alien defeated the last of the wolf-aliens and looked up at the quartet. He clicked his red and black pincers experimentally and the dangerous glow in his golden eyes slowly faded.

It was hard to decipher whether the arachnid had killed or knocked out all of the hostile aliens, but there was no doubt that he had saved them from the gang.

Ariah looked up, wide-eyed at Scroop, her black hair whipped about from the cold wind.

Scroop snorted, rolling his shoulders outwards. "You should take better care of the ones you care for…" He stated coldly. Then he crept out of the streets, back into the darkness.

There was a long pause between the three humans. They half-heartedly walked to the Snow Burst inn, hoping that there were still some decent rooms available.

* * *

"What'll it be?" An alien with an exposed hairy chest asked them in a bored tone of voice at the front desk of the inn.

"One room please." Ariah said tiredly. She eased her fingers through her loose bangs, now plastered to her forehead by sweat. She spoke for all of them.

"For all of you?" The alien asked, surprised.

"Yes." Ariah stated shortly, her temper catching in her throat.

"Gonna get lucky, boys?" The alien said rudely, winking with encouragement to Silver and Jim. They scowled back at him, controlling their own hot-headedness.

"O-Kay." Ariah leaned over the desk in a seductive manner. She placed her chin on her hand daintily and hooded her eyes mysteriously. "Let me give you a word of advice." She whispered lightly, tracing circles along the marble desk.

"Okay…" The alien shuddered; he was obviously one of those _desperate_ types.

Ariah kept her whisper evenly strung. "You're going to give us nice rooms, and you won't charge us extra." She flicked on the charger for the laser pistol Silver had handed her during the brawl and pressed the barrel of the pistol against the alien's chin. "To avoid getting the small brain of yours blown out of your thick skull." She slipped the laser pistol away and leaned back from the desk. The flirtatious smirk was still on her face but was smugger than anything.

"Okay?" The alien was both confused and quite naturally intimidated by Ariah's actions, but he retrieved the room's keys without any other comments.

"Thank you." Ariah said shortly as she swiftly snatched the keys from the alien's grubby fingers. She spun them around on her finger in victory as she led her two roommates to their highly classed hotel room.

* * *

"Now this, is comfort…" Jim stated; leaping onto one of the two queen-sized beds, back first. He kicked off his boots and casually leaned back against the headboard.

"What did you have to coax that scumbag at the front desk with?" Silver enquired.

"A few threats, as always." Ariah pulled off her slightly tattered coat, pocketed her gloves and placed her damp boots against a wall. "Winterchill hasn't changed much since we were last here; they're just more gangs than usual." She stated as she lay down in an elegant lounge chair.

"Hey, you should get a bed Ariah…" Jim said, sitting up suddenly. "You're the one who got us this room for cheap cash."

"No way." Ariah snuggled up in her lounge chair. "This is my reward…" She paused and sighed happily while stroking the cushions of the lounge chair. "Velvety softness."

Both Jim and Silver rolled their eyes, each getting into one of their own beds and falling asleep. They had to admire the comfort of the hotel's facilities while they still could, at least for this voyage.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

The Capital city's name is pronounced "Gy-raw-gah" just so you know.

**MG#6**


	10. Programming

**Author's Note:**

Thank you for the editing my awesome beta: Whisperwings.

Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Programming**

It was later on that night, still dark as ever, but two of the Snow Burst inn's patrons weren't sleeping while sharing the same room. Morph and Jim were asleep, but Ariah and Silver were both still awake. Uneasiness coated the air between them, and Ariah was curious because she wanted to know something from Silver.

"Why in the Etherium would you take a rain check on dinner?" She whispered loudly enough so Silver could hear her, but softly enough to avoid waking Morph and Jim.

"What's it teh yeh?" Silver grumbled, sitting back and pretending to drift off to sleep.

"You're up to something." Ariah narrowed her eyes in the thick blackness of the room. "I know it. And it has something to do with Jim."

"An'?" Silver ended bluntly, easing back into the large pillows of the queen-sized bed.

"You want me to get together with Jim." Ariah spat venomously. "Don't you?"

"Can't blame me for tryin'." Silver rolled his eyes; his mechanical one gleamed with its inner laser.

"But...why?" Ariah curled her legs under herself and glared at Silver's bed, where she remembered it to be when the lights were on.

"Yeh need someone, darling." Silver stated as-a-matter-of-factly. "An' Jimbo's the smartest lad we've seen in a long time. He's worthy of yeh, Ariah."

"But I'm not worthy of him." Ariah looked to Jim's bed, as she remembered. "He's got a future ready for him; he's got everything planned out and just look at me." She scoffed at herself. "I'm a sailor whose only means of income is adventures and tinkering."

Ariah sighed miserably, looking down at herself in shame, although she couldn't actually see anything due to the complete darkness of the planet.

"He's got something in store for him, me…" She paused and leaned back in her velvety lounge chair. "I have no idea if I'm going to be abandoned the next morning or if something will happen to us." She gnawed at her bottom lip. "I've no idea, and I've got to look out for everyone. Especially myself. I can't trust many people, and-."

Ariah was lost for words, something that rarely happened to her. She huffed in exasperation, finally closing her mouth with no other comments. The young woman sat silently on the cushions of her lounge chair.

"Ariah." Silver scolded her softly with concern. "Yer bein' too hard on yourself." He shook his head. "Jimbo's a fine lad. I can tell he likes yeh an' -although yeh seem teh doubt it- I can tell yeh like him too." The cyborg chuckled. "Jim doesn't 'ave a very high set of expectations." Silver paused and smiled. "He's not like other guys when he's 'round yeh."

"Yeah…" Ariah sighed. "I know."

* * *

There was a calm silence through the room. Silver leaned back with his hands behind his head, engulfed in the plush pillows. Ariah curled up under the duvet she had located under her lounge chair.

"Silver?" Ariah asked in a small voice.

"Aye?" Silver yawned, trying to stay awake to hear Ariah out.

"When we get back onto the ship." Ariah asked through a long yawn. "Can you tell me one of those stories where you and your best friend go on another adventure?" She was drifting off to sleep. "Where you have to get them out of trouble… and you fight big monsters?" She added drowsily.

"Sure Ariah." Silver smirked lightly, closing his eyes. "Yeh like those stories don't yeh?"

Ariah didn't answer; she had fallen fast asleep once more. Silver smiled genuinely at that and tugged the blankets back over himself. He allowed himself to get caught in the dreams of his own stories.

* * *

Something awoke Ariah in the morning. It was eerie, and strange. Not a loud and obnoxious wake up call, not a banging of the pot to say that breakfast was ready, and not an alarm tolling their demise. It was something natural, something warm.

Ariah opened her copper-brown eyes, and squinted. Light, it was natural light. Not the kind that burned under the oil lamps' wick… it was something that peered through the window. It was filtered through the thin, lacy curtains and it brightened the room.

Sunlight. The eclipse was finally over.

Ariah rose to her feet, leaving her duvet in a pile at the end of her lounge chair as she pulled on her dried boots and winter coat. She stood up, basking in the warm, golden sunlight as she opened the curtains widely.

* * *

Two groans indicated that her fellow roommates were now awake. Ariah turned to their blinking eyes; her face displayed a full smile.

The two male humans weakly grinned back, slightly confused with early morning grogginess. Morph zipped from his pillow form on the ground to snuggle against Ariah's face affectionately. She tangled her fingers in Morph's body in a good morning greeting.

The blob giggled and zoomed over to Jim, prodding him until he would get up.

"What…" Jim mumbled. "What is it?" He asked grumpily.

"The eclipse is over." Ariah stated. She grabbed her duffel bag and shouldered it. "Which means that we need to get back to the Legacy, to repair that generator."

"Oh yeah." Jim yawned loudly and rubbed the sleep from his pale blue eyes. He kicked the covers off of himself and hopped out of the comfy bed.

The brunette teenager slugged to the side of his bed and limply tugged on his boots. He then slowly followed both Silver and Ariah out of the exquisite room, wishing to return to his bed for at _least_ another few minutes of sleep.

* * *

The man at the desk of the Snow Burst Inn was sleeping with his face plastered to the counter. His snores were loud enough to make the windowpanes in the lobby quiver.

Ariah pulled out the room's key from her coat pocket and she plopped it on the counter forcefully beside a small bag of coins.

"Let's go." Ariah led to way out of the inn.

They ordered a hastened breakfast at the restaurant, deciding to take it with them to eat along their few hours of walking. Then the quartet left the outskirts of Gyrogga, slowly making there way back to the RLS Legacy. The tall beacons of light that Ariah had planted the night before could be seen shining in the dimness of the morning air.

Not only was the beacons' main purpose to light a pathway, but also near the base of the beacon's shaft there was a laser that emitted a beam of heat between beacons, which would keep the snow melted in order for a decent trail to remain.

There were many shadowy characters following the heat-carved path to the landed tall ship, undoubtedly their crew and commanders.

The four travellers bundled up and followed the previously trudged pathway. The snow banks from the night's snowfall rose far over their heads and tiny snowflakes were beginning to descend from the heavens.

* * *

"I hate re-programming this thing." An unusually cheerful singsong chanted in the inner workings of the RLS Legacy. "La, La, La…" It echoed through the metal walls, bouncing through the pipes. "Wanna take a swing at why?" The singsong asked impishly.

"Because it takes way too long to do the easiest of things." A lower sarcastic version of the singsong replied.

"Precisely!" The singsong sung out in an opera tone.

The two owners of the singsong voices laughed cheerfully at the silliness of the matter as they got back to work.

It was Ariah and Jim, of all of the people. Silver was busy testing the stoves that they were supposed to be re_-_booting via an elongated series of codes that had to be entered into to RLS Legacy's system to actually make the physical repairs they had made work.

The stoves themselves were fine; it had taken them a good hour per stove to get them back into working shape.

It was just the _simple_ matter of reprogramming the stoves to cooperate with the Legacy's system, or the ship wouldn't likely get off the ground without one of the laser canons exploding. And such a case wouldn't be good.

Ariah had been entering the code into the main computer, while trying to teach Jim the code; that way she wouldn't be the only programmer in the crew if anything like this should ever happen again. Jim, however, had much more fun drumming a pair of monkey wrenches against the pipes of the Legacy and so starting the musical.

* * *

The female sailor groaned, saving the code for the billionth time and hitting the signal button to tell Silver to test the stoves. The computer buzzed a bit as it processed the information being sent up to Silver.

After a few minutes of crossed fingers they had no luck, another error message was sent down, stating that the vents overhead of the stoves weren't working properly, but everything else was.

Ariah grumbled turning a page in the Legacy's systematic manual, to the galley's venting system requirements, as she typed away at the small keyboard.

"I'm no help, am I?" Jim leaned forward to watch Ariah type.

"Not unless you're absorbing this." Ariah kept typing, thinking over the conditions and solutions in her head.

"Then why does Silver have me with you?" Jim inquired, raising his eyebrows in interest.

"Great question…" Ariah stated flatly. "The likeliest assumption would be so I can talk to someone without him being concerned that I've gone completely insane." Ariah offered, still vigorously entering the system's code.

"No, really." Jim looked her in the eyes, a playful smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I have a feeling that _you_ know, Miss Clarke."

"It works!" Ariah ignored Jim's comment and her eyes widened with joy at the triumph.

"What?" Jim looked at the screen in bewilderment; there were no error reports.

"Finally!" Ariah proclaimed joyfully.

Ariah locked the Legacy's manual of system beside the miniature computer and then closed the panel into the wall of the Legacy's lower decks with the monkey wrenches.

"But why does he have me here with you?" Jim implored, jogging to keep up with her as she hopped up the stairs to the upper deck. "Can't you tell me?"

She sighed a bit, and then took a deep breath, something stirred at the bottom of her heart at that tone of plea in his voice. It was something that she couldn't ignore. She stopped at the second to last step and turned on Jim, looking deeply at the begging look in his water blue eyes. Her mind said that he was worth the trouble.

Jim looked up to her. Perhaps he shouldn't have intervened with the matter; after all he was just a cabin boy and she a sailor. She and Silver seemed to know each other for a far longer time than he had known either of them.

The brunette teenager was about to part his lips to apologize for intruding on Ariah's business when Ariah suddenly spoke out.

"All right, here's why." She stated simply, grabbing Jim's face and crushing their lips together. She released him and smirked at his shocked expression. Ariah then exited the lower deck without another word.

Jim touched his lips lightly, unable to stop the smile that came. They felt… tingly.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks to the reviews I've received, my beta (Whisperwings) and to me. _(I got to thank myself every once in a while...)_

Oh and a big thanks to the people at Disney who made Treasure Planet possible. _(Big smile and thumbs up)_

And to the fabulous author, who wrote Treasure Island, thus giving something for Treasure Planet to be based on. _(Huge smile) _

…My Face hurts now...

**MG#6**


	11. Give Him A Chance

**Author's Note:**

Sorry for the wait, and thanks to my beta: Whisperwings.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Giving Him a Chance**

The crew prepared themselves for the launch from Winterchill's surface. They had shovelled almost all of the snow that bound them to the snowy planet from the main deck and had repaired the solar sails from the blizzard's minute damages.

Jim and Silver had re-tested the stoves, and then prepared them –and the rest of the equipment in the galley- for the scheduled planetary exit.

However they couldn't find the galley's double doors that had been blown off but the stoves' explosion and decided not to search through the mile-high snow drifts for them.

All in all, the RLS Legacy was more than ready once Mister Arrow and Captain Amelia ordered them to prepare the launch. After restoring the artificial gravity and the summer-like artificial environment, the sailors hurried to their stations.

Ariah climbed up the mainmast, her fellow sailors slightly behind her swift moves. She handled the topsail of the mainmast for a second time on this particular voyage. Scroop and Birdbrain Mary were just below her at the bottom of the sail.

"Did you have fun below deck with Cabin Boy?" Scroop hissed in pure slyness, he skittered across the rigging to the bottom starboard corner of the sail.

Ariah scoffed, tying off the sail. "Shove off Scroop, you make it sound like something _actually_ happened." She narrowed her copper-brown eyes smugly.

"You hate programming." Scroop stated. "The question is; why were you so cheerful when you came out from below deck?"

"Are you kidding?" Ariah scoffed. "It's because I had successfully reprogrammed the stupid thing." The female teenager huffed, waiting patiently for the Captain's orders.

"And you were blushing." Scroop said more quietly, not as though Ariah was dominating him –never likely- but his whisper seemed to increase the tension.

"Why it was for the mere victory of the event." Ariah said in self-pride.

"And the…" Scroop smiled viciously. "Singing?"

Ariah blanked, the hatch into the lower decks _was_ opened. But she kept her cool and stated nonchalantly. "It was simply something to do to avoid snapping under the massive de-coding and re-coding process, Mister Scroop."

"Open All Solar Sails!" Mister Arrow's voice boomed to the crew before Scroop could open his crimson mouth once more.

Ariah yanked on her rope at the top of the solar sail, keeping it taunt as Birdbrain Mary and Scroop fanned it open on either side. Slowly the shimmering sails opened, filling up with the solar winds' energies.

The black haired sailor secured the topsails' rope and she braced herself against the mast for the launch.

"Fire Away!" Captain Amelia yelled to the alien below deck, and the power generators of the RLS Legacy hummed as they were re-energized. The tall ship rose from the surface of the frigid planet and was turned towards the heavens.

They cleared a runway of melted snow to exit the planet Winterchill once and for all.

Their journey was finally back on its original course…

* * *

Ariah rappelled from the mast down to the deck. Captain Amelia and Mister Arrow had retreated to their quarters for some tea along with Doctor Doppler.

Sooner than expected, Jim was sent up onto the deck to clear any puddles of melted snow, and to give the deck a thorough scrubbing. The black haired sailor left the upper deck to the crews' quarters.

Ariah peeled off her ivory coat, as the environment of the upper deck was returning to its usual summer-like warmth, and she retrieved her clothes from the bottom of the duffel bag. She then changed into a pair of tawny trousers; a black blouse, red vest, and a ponytail and her red bandanna replaced her fuzzy earmuffs.

Ariah rubbed her tired eyes and stretched out any kinks that bracing her body against the mainmast had given her. Then she slipped on her full body harness, coiled the thick bungee cord and headed down to the galley to visit Silver.

* * *

"Hey Silver." Ariah hopped into the aroma-filled galley. A large cauldron of stew for lunch bubbled over on the main stove.

"Don't tell me yeh are back teh double-check these blasted stoves." Silver chuckled, stirring the stew with a large wooden spoon and then covering it.

"No way." Ariah laughed aloud. "I've had enough of testing stoves for the day, if not the entire voyage." She smiled.

"Good." Silver sat down at one of the small tables in the galley. "So what is it that brings yeh down 'ere?" He paused. "Besides the food."

"Well." Ariah sat down on the bench across from the cook. "I've been thinking about what you said last night." She paused. "I guess I could give Jim a chance." She shrugged.

"Is that so?" Silver rubbed his chin, trying to conceal his smile with his good hand.

"Also." Ariah leaned back and snatched a purp from a nearby barrel. "I think I'll have Scroop be my slave soon." She bit into the purp, wiped some of its juice from the corners of her lips and swallowed the bite of sweet fruit. "He's starting to get on my nerves, well, more than usual."

"It'll be his hell." Silver smirked, pulling himself back up from the bench to add some more ingredients to the stew.

"Have you seen Morph around?" Ariah hopped back onto her feet.

"Can say I 'ave, darling…" Silver chopped some fresh vegetables and sprinkled them into the stew. "I'm guessin' that he's with Jimbo."

"Yeah." Ariah shoved an extra purp into the pockets of her trousers and bit into the purp she was holding. "He probably is." She exited the galley, heading for the upper deck that Jim was swabbing.

Silver chuckled, adding a pinch of spices for flavour and covering the stew once more with its cast-iron lid. He then sat at a bench and began inspecting his cyborg equipment; the gears in his leg were stalling from the change of the environment's temperature.

* * *

"Morph!" Ariah called out across the main deck.

As soon as the sound of his name exited Ariah's lips, Morph came zooming from Jim's shoulder right to her. He splat softly against her face, from lack of flight control, but peeled himself off of her and giggled.

"Morph." Ariah whispered to the little transformer. "I've got a job for you to do." She whispered her message into his newly formed ear and smiled. "Can you do that?"

"Uh huh." Morph nodded.

"Great." Ariah's copper eyes lit up. "But only when Jim has finished swabbing the deck."

"Aye-aye!" Morph then obediently zoomed off to obey Ariah's orders.

Ariah shoved her hand into her right pocket, heading down to the lower decks as she munched on her purp.

* * *

About an hour later, Jim had finished swabbing the deck. As he put away his mop and bucket into the tiny closet off of the aft he noticed a sharp, continuous prodding in the middle of his back. He turned around, but didn't see anybody. The prodding persisted.

Jim swiftly snatched the finger from his back and captured it within his palms, all ready knowing whom it was. He glared at the little transformer through his fingers.

"What do you want, Morph?" He asked irritably.

Morph giggled, swiftly slithering through Jim's fingers and biting him by the front of his shirt. Morph then tugged Jim towards the lower decks with considerable strength.

Jim reluctantly followed Morph, trying to stay on his feet while he was dragged down the stairs. He stumbled down the hallway of the lower deck until Morph had tugged him all the way to the lower docks for the longboats. Then Morph released Jim, whizzing across the dimly lit room to chirp to a shadowed figure.

"Good job Morph." Ariah's recognizable voice answered as she reached over and lit a lantern. "Hey Jim." She smiled; the end of her bungee chord was clipped onto the side of the longboat. "Hop in." She gestured to the seat beside her.

Jim weaved through the docks, opening the hatch to the longboats' exit with a slightly suspicious hesitation. Perhaps there was something different between them both.

"C'mon Jim." Ariah read his thoughts. "I need your help for something." She paused, seeing his uneasiness. "Well, you're quite the mechanic, Jim." The black-haired teenager smiled knowingly. "I could tell how quickly you repaired the stoves this morning…"

Jim's eyes lit up slightly, "Yeah." He smiled. "What can I help you with?" He enquired with genuine interest.

"I have this new invention I'm working on and I need some help testing it." Ariah pointed at the large metallic pile of scrap metal and a toolbox.

"You're an inventor?" Jim raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, sort of…" Ariah shrugged. "Besides being a mechanic, you probably know how to drive this thing better than me."

"I do?" Jim hopped into the longboat beside Ariah.

"Well, yeah." Ariah said, as if it were the obvious. "If there was ever one thing that Silver never taught me, it was how to drive one of these things..." She looked away and eased the bow's rope through her palms. "He probably didn't want to risk losing me." She sighed half-heartedly.

"I've never driven one of _these_ before." Jim stated.

"Well then." Ariah paused and smiled. "We'll just have to figure out together."

Jim untied the stern's rope and eased it at the same rate as Ariah. The longboat slowly left the docks through the bottom of the ship.

* * *

"Hey, Ariah." The brunette teenager briefly looked the female sailor over. "How come you're with Silver?" He asked. "I mean." Jim paused. "Where's your family?"

Ariah spontaneously released the rope and the longboat violently dropped from the Legacy's lower dock. Jim and Morph both yelped as the tools and scrap metal bounced at the bottom of the boat. Ariah stood still as the tiny boat continued falling.

Then the longboat hit empty space and floated soundly, jarring its occupants. Ariah limply prodded at some of the tools that had landed back into the boat.

"My." Ariah cleared her throat. "My mother died when I was young." The young sailor twirled a screwdriver around between her two index fingers. "She only told me that my father left once I was born. So I don't know much about him." Ariah stopped the screwdriver in mid-twirl, watching it meaningfully. "She didn't say why. Only that he gave me my name and then left." The troubled teenager set down the screwdriver half-heartedly and shook her black-haired head. "I never heard any names or seen any photos... nothing. I thought that his last name would obviously be _'Clarke'_ but…" Ariah sighed with a weighty pause. "It was my mother's maiden name, so she and him probably were never married." Ariah weakly smiled back at Jim, who was everything but _slightly_ stunned about this revelation. "What about _your_ family, Jim?" She enquired.

"Um." Jim cleared his throat, trying to shake off his surprise. "My dad ran off on some adventure when I was twelve." The brunette teenager opened the small solar sail of the longboat listlessly. "My mom raised me afterwards. She owned the Benbow Inn, but it was burned to the ground by pirates, just before I started this voyage." Jim leaned against the mast of the longboat and stuffed his hands into the outer pockets of his jacket. "I've never heard of my dad's existence since he left and…" He sighed, blowing away a stray bang of brunette hair from his forehead. "I guess I was pretty hard on my mom." Jim looked at the scuffed-up tops of his boots and then blinked. "Anyways." He shook his head from past memories and looked back at Ariah. "You wanted my help with testing your invention?"

Ariah stared at the pile of tools and scrap metal, examining it for something. "Yeah." She picked up a backpack-shaped bundled and strapped in onto her back. "It's a solar glider, well, that's what I'm trying to make at least." The young woman stated as she reached to her feet to retrieve a fully masked helmet. "I'm trying to perfect the invention and I need you to help me with some kinks and such." She slipped on the helmet and flicked down the clear visor over her copper-brown eyes. "You don't mind. Do you?" Through the helmet, her voice sounded slightly mechanical.

"Um." Jim processed the information. "Not really."

"Excellent." Ariah pulled on the bungee chord attached to her body harness, double-checking that it was secured to the bow of the longboat. "Let's get underway. We have a couple of hours until we're needed back." She stated.

"Okay." Jim powered up the engine of the longboat. "Hold on." He warned.

"Gotcha." Ariah responded, gripping her seat in anticipation.

Jim smirked and fired up the engine of the longboat. It soared at full speed from under the hull of RLS Legacy and out towards an asteroid field.

Ariah smiled with delight the entire way.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

The next chapter is already written, however betaing must proceed.

**MG#6**


	12. Let's Invent Something!

**Author's Note:**

HURRAY! Chapter 12.

* * *

**Chapter 12: Let's Invent Something**

"Ready?" Ariah looked over her shoulder at Jim.

Jim obediently nodded, his hands on the throttle of the longboat. Morph whimpered slightly. Ariah silenced the tiny transformer with a determined look then she hopped off of her seat.

Ariah cautiously climbed onto the small point of the bow. She perched on her boots at the outer gunnels of the longboat; her hands were at the arms-length controls of her invention.

"Fire away." Ariah said quietly in her mechanical voice. She was solely focussed on staying crouched at the bow of the longboat. Her bungee chord was securely bound to the bow, slightly below where she was crouched.

Jim eased the longboat into drive. Slowly at first, so Ariah wouldn't be thrown back into his face, then he hesitantly sped up the longboat. He also made sure that he didn't turn abruptly, or else Ariah might've fallen off from the G force.

Morph hid behind Jim's shoulder for the majority of the flight, occasionally peeking over to apprehensively look at Ariah.

* * *

Most of the way was a straight path; any asteroids that floated in their way could be easily seen and avoided. Ariah used the muscles in her legs to gradually pull herself up from her crouching position with the uppermost caution.

Eventually Ariah was standing at the bow. The young sailor girl moved her weight onto her left foot as she shimmied her right foot beside the other on the port side of the longboat. She was completely absorbed in staying on the gunnels of the longboat and staying perfectly balanced.

Without warning, Ariah leapt from the side of the longboat, her bungee chord freely allowing her to drop through the empty air of space. She only fell from the sped of her leap and the slight gravitational pull of a nearby asteroid.

Judging by the minor pull and change in direction of her bungee chord, Jim was flying the longboat under her, as instructed.

* * *

Ariah flicked a switch with her right thumb and waited. Two pairs of solar wings folded slowly out from the bundle attached to her back. They gradually changed from dark amber to a bright gold as they charged up with solar energy.

She continued plummeting from the force of her launch. The system on her back slowly booted up with solar power. Her fingers itched to press the throttle at the index finger of each hand, but her mind controlled them to wait.

Suddenly a large array of asteroids came up fast in front of her. At this speed, and without much control, she would likely crash. Ariah's mind racked, protesting against the instinct to power up.

Then Ariah realized that the currents of the solar winds also had a certain amount of directional properties, much like normal wind. Ariah looked up at the tip of her solar glider, it was slightly glowing, but she still needed more time.

Ariah huffed, taking into account the direction of the solar winds, and dipping the left point of her triangular glider. She swiftly swerved out of the way of the asteroid. Though she missed the asteroid, the invention wasn't working as planned.

She hastily glared up at the topmost tip; it was shining the identical gold as the remaining panels installed into her glider.

"Yes!" Ariah hissed in victory. Her index fingers slammed tightly over the two buttons.

**…**

Rather than the expected blast of solar energy, much like the dramatic launch of a tall ship, the rockets installed at the end of the solar glider popped a minute puff of energy.

"Oh great." Ariah cursed.

BLAM! The tiny rockets at the end of the glider exploded, damaging the bottom edge of the solar sail, and sending Ariah more or less flying into the side of the longboat.

"Ouch." Jim and Morph cringed identically. Jim reached over the side of the slightly dented longboat and yanked at the bungee chord.

* * *

The cabin boy grinned smugly as he seen Ariah's annoyed expression through the clear visor of her helmet. She slowly floated upwards, still extended from the longboat with her bungee chord.

Ariah brushed at some of her charred clothing, flicking a switch on her harness. It retracted most of her bungee chord until she reached the aura of artificial gravity surrounding the longboat and she dropped below the level of the longboat's gunnels.

Jim reached down and pulled her back into the longboat. The two teenagers sat across from each other. Ariah was at the bow facing Jim and Jim at the stern facing Ariah.

The brunette teenager seemed to be controlling an urge to burst out laughing. "Good thing you were wearing a helmet." Jim stifled a snicker.

"You don't seem so concerned." Ariah stated sarcastically. She wrenched off her helmet and wiped the sweat off of her face, leaving long streaks of black charcoal smeared across her face.

Jim couldn't take it and neither could Morph. They both exploded into fits of laughter as Ariah swiftly grabbed her bandanna from her head and removed the lines from her face.

As the two males continued laughing, Ariah slipped off her solar glider, withdrawing what was left of it, and then waiting patiently for them to calm down.

* * *

Eventually Morph and Jim settled down, Ariah glanced up at Jim. She was unusually silent, her hands clutching her knees tightly.

"Oh." Jim leaned forwards and looked Ariah over. "You are alright… right?"

Morph squeaked frantically, realizing that Ariah could possibly be injured. He shifted a circular doctor's headband onto his head and zoomed around Ariah, looking for injuries.

"Yeah." Ariah sighed, halting Morph with one of her hands. She paused and gnawed her bottom lip. "I just don't know how long it's going to take until I get this right." She huffed in exasperation.

"Well that's why I'm here…" Jim smiled weakly, shutting off the main engine of the longboat and reaching for the toolbox and the charred invention.

Ariah smiled back gratefully locating her invention's original blueprints and spreading them out on the seat between them.

* * *

"All right we have time for one last test until we have to get back to the Legacy." Ariah hastily pulled on her helmet and stood up at the bow. "Ready?" She asked in her mechanical voice.

"You're not going to crash into the longboat again this time?" Jim raised his eyebrows. "I don't think it can handle another dent."

"Please… the longboats _I've_ been on can handle much more than a few dents." Ariah rolled her copper-brown eyes. "But I'll try not to. Nor will I crash into an asteroid or blow up half of the glider." Ariah assured with a warm smile.

"Okay." Jim sighed. His hands went to the throttle and he eased the longboat into the slowest driving setting.

They went through the same routine. Once Ariah was perched at the port side of longboat she leapt off. She soared through the empty space.

The wings of the solar glider fanned out, much more quickly due to Jim and Ariah's improvements. The panels on the glider filled up with renewed solar energy, mostly deposits of solar energy had been saved over the course of the evening's tests.

Ariah waited, the glider's charging was taking less time to change the panels to a glimmering golden colour. She took a deep breath and pressed her index fingers down on the tiny buttons.

* * *

Down in the longboat, Morph and Jim watch Ariah closely, trying to drive the longboat under her, in case of the worst.

The golden solar panels charged up on her glider, as she fired up the rockets. They both had their fingers crossed tightly in hope.

* * *

The rockets did not explode. As a matter of fact, they fired up properly and propelled Ariah through the empty space at full speed.

The young sailor howled in victory, weaving through the asteroid field and doubling back to circle the longboat. She would've jumped for joy, had she been on a flat surface.

Her only restraint from escaping into the mysterious reaches of space was her safety bungee chord. She exhaled and slowly cut the power of her rockets as she hovered over the bow of the longboat.

Ariah adjusted her wings so they wings only folded halfway, to steady her short fall back onto the longboat. She shut down the system, the golden wings folded away completely and she pulled off her helmet.

Morph and Jim were cheering in victory, applauding the invention's success.

"It seems to work." Ariah could help but smile. "No explosions this time."

"Yeah." Jim smiled back. "That was incredible!" His pale blue eyes seemed to glow from excitement, and _he_ hadn't even been the one _using_ the solar glider.

Ariah rubbed the back of her neck nonchalantly and she giggled.

Jim waited a moment for Ariah to unclip herself from her harness and then pull off her solar glider.

Ariah sat down next to Jim at the stern of the longboat. The bright smile of victory was still plastered on her face.

Jim fired up the engine and soared them at a moderate speed back through a small galaxy to reach the RLS Legacy.

* * *

The opened hatch below the Legacy was still opened. Jim slowly flew the longboat up to the dock. Then he felt something against his left shoulder and looked beside him.

He was at the mercy of his mind's will not to awe or laugh at the sight. Ariah was sleeping peacefully next to his shoulder; Morph was curled up in the crook of her neck, using her black ponytail as a blanket.

Jim shook his head in disbelief, Ariah was so strong-willed and self-confident, but here she lay sleeping soundly like an exhausted baby.

The brunette teenager carefully wrapped his left arm around Ariah's torso, his right circled under her knees. He used his legs to smoothly lift them both up.

Jim had hardly and issues with Ariah's weight, back in Montressor he had often carried many pounds of scrap metal at a time to constructed his solar surfers, but it was the fact that she was asleep that troubled Jim. He tried extra hard to avoid waking her, and was fortunate in doing so. Ariah wasn't the lightest of sleepers.

The young cabin boy lifted Ariah out of the longboat and laid her on the dock. Then he hopped back into the longboat and tied off the boat.

Morph awoke soundlessly, helping Jim with pulling up the longboat and retrieving Ariah's invention.

* * *

Morph carefully nudged Ariah awake as Jim pulled the lever to close the hatch. The hatch rumbled closed until there was no starlight emitting from the floor. The lanterns inside the dock house lit up one by one as Ariah sat up.

"Man, I guess testing inventions is more tiring than I thought." Ariah yawned, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Crashing into random space matter is more likely the case." Jim stated flatly.

Ariah pulled herself back onto her feet. She shook any exhaustion from her body and looked back up at Jim, smiling.

"Well, I should probably get to bed to avoid any injuries." Ariah stretched. "You know, so I don't trip over my own feet." She chuckled. "Good night Jim."

Jim snorted at her remark. "Good Night Ariah." Jim answered with a little wave.

Ariah climbed the wooden steps back to the upper deck, swaying lightly from fatigue.

* * *

The moment she exited the lower deck she noticed the oddly numerous amount of the crew, still awake and their eyes on her suspiciously.

"What?" Ariah asked bluntly.

"You were gone." Birdbrain Mary screeched loudly, hopping towards Ariah.

"Yeah, so?" Ariah shut the door to the dock house behind her and dragged herself towards the lower entrance to the crew's quarters.

"You missed dinner." Onus replied.

"So?" Ariah repeated in her bored tone.

"And you were with Cabin Boy." Scroop stated. The crew grunted in agreement.

"Ah… I was looking for you, Scroop." The young woman looked up from the deck at the golden-eyed arachnid. "Just for your information..." Ariah smiled smugly. "You're going to be my slave as of tomorrow." She narrowed her copper-brown eyes at him. "So, I suggest you start minding your own business, Mister Scroop, and get a good night's rest."

The young sailor exited the main deck and entered the crew's quarters, leaving her fellow crewmates on the deck, bewildered.

The entire crew cringed at the poor luck of Scroop. The crimson alien snorted, brushing off their comments and clicking towards the crew's quarters to do as Ariah suggested.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

MUHAHAHAHA _slavery._ Personally I don't support real slavery, but this is just a joke. REAL slavery is not a laughing matter.

However, if you have any suggestions for any, Ehem, _orders_ Ariah could use against Scroop, I'll say you name, and take those suggestions into consideration.

_Hugs Not Drugs Ladies and Gentlemen!_

**MG#6**


	13. Scroop's Misfortune

**Author's Note:**

Chapter 13… It's bad luck! (Well, for Mister Scroop, of course)

Here are the suggestions I've got so far from readers... And thank you to those readers, who've made this chapter so far.

Sky-Pirate325: _Make him swab the decks! Or peel some veggies/fruit!_

The Benjanator: _Blow him up/out of the laser cannons! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!_

Banana-Ramma Dragon Man: _Cook one of his pincers!_

(I may use some of these ideas in the next chapter if I can't fit them all in this chapter…)

* * *

**Chapter 13: Scroop's Misfortune**

Today was the day. It was the deplorable day of slavery. Scroop swung down from his hammock and stretched out his appendages.

The one he was temporarily serving, Ariah Clarke, was nowhere in sight. She must've already gotten up. He sighed and clicked quietly out of the crew's sleeping quarters.

* * *

The crimson alien sauntered onto the upper deck. Without warning, he was hit by something cold flying into his triangular face.

The thing stuck to his face and he quickly removed it with an angry claw swipe. That something was Morph, who was giggling loudly at Scroop's furious expression.

"Why you..." Mister Scroop raised his other pincer, threatening to crush it onto the little pink blob, when another voice interrupted his wrath.

"Ah, ah, ah..." Ariah's voice chided. "You are now entering the first of the many hours of serving as my personal slave; that is, until midnight tonight." The young woman stated smoothly. "And so, such bouts of anger and violence shall not be initiated." Ariah laughed. "Or else you'll just have to be _punished_."

Scroop narrowed his golden eyes and looked up. A shadowy figure hanging in a full body harness leaned against the shaded side of the mainmast. The figure leaned forward into the sunlight to reveal Ariah's familiar face with a sly smirk on it.

"Now the first thing you're going to do is..." Ariah paused, for suspense, and smoothly flipped out of her pre-loosened harness.

The teenager landed lightly on the main deck in front of Scroop, the grin still on her face.

"Swab the deck until I can see my face in it." Ariah wore an ivory peasant top, dark brown trousers and her regular red vest.

"But-" Scroop interjected.

"Tut-tut, Mister Scroop." Ariah wiggled her left index finger at the alien. "You're my slave today, so get used to it... or else I _might_ have to give you a tutu and refer to you as Mister Giggles for the entirety of the day, like I did with Meltdown." Ariah briefly tossed 'Mr Mop' and 'Mrs Bucket' at the alien before strolling down to the lower deck.

Scroop allowed a controlled hiss to escape through his fangs. He reluctantly took the mop into his claws and dipped it into the bubble-filled water. The silver-haired arachnid then began to unenthusiastically trace circles into the deck.

* * *

"Wake up Jim!" Ariah shook awake the sleepy-headed teenager.

"What?" The teenager grumbled. He slowly lifted his head from the folds of his hammock. His brunette hair fell in a mess around his face. "What is it?" He asked.

"Today's the day you've been waiting for!" Ariah exclaimed.

"We've arrived?" Jim asked excitedly, his water blue eyes brightening at the thought.

"No… you silly." Ariah ruffled Jim's messy bangs. She promptly pushed Jim out of his cloth hammock and proudly placed her hands on her hips. "Today's the day you get to switch places with Mister Scroop."

"Huh?" Jim raised his eyebrows up at the hyperactive sailor.

"You get to be a sailor for one whole day!" She hollered, much more excited than one should be so early in the morning.

"Great." Jim rubbed his stiff neck. "So I have to be a creepy, spider psycho?" He pricked his eyebrow.

Ariah laughed. "C'mon Jim, let's go!" She grabbed Jim's arm and dragged him out of the crew's quarters.

Jim barely had any time to grab his boots, let alone pull them over his socked feet, before he was forced to follow Ariah out onto the main deck.

* * *

Already a few tedious hours into the day and Scroop had managed to polish the Legacy's main deck until it glimmered like a charged solar sail. He sighed tiredly and glanced around the deck.

A stray few sailors roamed the main deck; they were all waiting for Silver to finish cooking breakfast. Ariah walked up to the crimson alien.

"Hmm…" Ariah smiled contently.

She looked amorously at the shimmering, wooden planks, seeing her faint mirror image.

"Well done, Mister Scroop." The black haired sailor pushed back her red bandanna and smirked. "Now you can help Silver with breakfast..." She turned on her heel and sauntered off to the mainmast, where Jim was waiting.

Scroop growled loudly, only _just_ stopping himself from kicking Mrs Bucket out into oblivion. Had he done so, he likely would've had to swab the entire deck once more... or worse. Scroop irritably clicked down the steps to the galley; most of the crew avoided him while he was in a sour mood.

* * *

"Here." Ariah hopped weightlessly onto the riggings with skilled agility.

Jim sluggishly climbed up behind her, still tired from Ariah's wake up call.

"Help me open this solar sail." She instructed.

"Why was it closed?" Jim grumbled, narrowing his pale blue eyes as he climbed up.

"Well." Ariah sighed. "We don't really want to get launched ahead a few galaxies at the first ray of light in the morning." She stated. "So, we shut some of the solar sails after dinner." She smiled as-a-matter-of-factly. "That's why it's also the group on watch's job to check the sails as well as the rest of the ship."

Jim sat down on the rigging. "That makes sense. _Sort of_."

Ariah climbed up above the sail and she tossed a rope into Jim's hands. He looked up at her with anticipation and she smiled back warmly.

* * *

Plop. The wooden ladle Scroop had been using to stir the crew's breakfast fell below the bubbling surface. He hissed, opting to find a pair of tongs to retrieve it. But he didn't know the Legacy's galley as well as others he had been in.

Quickly, with a loud snarl ripping through his fangs, Mister Scroop lunged his right pincer into the boiling soup. He ambled around the piping hot stew, trying not to holler from the excruciating pain zapping through his right arm.

Finally, his claw brushed up on the wooden ladle. He furiously snatched it and extracted his throbbing pincer from the cauldron. He sighed with relief and brought himself over to the galley's sink.

"You're a little short on common sense, Scroop." Silver chided as he laughed half-heartedly. "The tongs were on the lid the whole time..." He chuckled. He clicked the tongs in his organic hand to prove it.

Scroop hissed in response. He looked over his injured pincer, now soaking in the sink full of cool water and grimaced. It had been in the piping-hot stew long enough to change from its normal crimson colour to sickly white.

Talk about a white-hot pincer.

* * *

"Do you hate Scroop that much?" Jim asked, tying off a knot for one of the riggings.

"Nope." Ariah smiled warmly. She smoothly rappelled from the rigging. Then she walked out onto the bow's netting and sat down on the chords.

The female sailor clipped herself to the Legacy's outer railing and she sighed, relaxing in the fresh morning breeze.

"Scroop's one of my best friends." She stated as she leaned against her arms.

"Well, you're not very nice to him." Jim grumbled. He sat down across from her on the net after tying a lifeline around his waist.

Ariah pouted. "You can't trust that many people, Jim." She sighed calmly. "And you've got to be tough..."

"Did Silver teach you that?" Jim raised an eyebrow.

"No." Ariah said faintly, she opened her copper-brown eyes and looked at her boots sadly. "Unfortunately, I had to learn it, the hard way..."

"Oh." Jim sighed. He waited a few moments in silence. "Hey, you never answered me to why you're with Silver." He stated.

Ariah smiled. "No, I didn't." She sighed and leaned back against the net. "Silver, and Scroop, took me out of my foster home. It was four years ago, when I was fourteen. I don't know why they got me, or how they knew me, but they saved me from bandits that invaded and burned down my foster parent's home." She looked out to the infinite number of galaxies ahead. "That was my eighth set of foster parents since my mom died, when I was five." She sighed. "I've been sailing around with Scroop and Silver for the past four years, and I trust them."

"Oh." Jim deadpanned; he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

Ariah smiled and smoothly stated. "But like all friendships... we tend to argue amongst ourselves." She chuckled. "A lot." She added. "Besides." Ariah cleared her throat. "I'm not being very nice to him today because he's my slave."

"Ouch." Jim chuckled.

"Not that I would treat a full-time slave like that." Ariah tried to redeem herself. She shrugged nonchalantly. "I just like taking advantage of these kind of days."

"Ever have to serve as a slave?" Jim enquired.

"Nope." Ariah smiled warmly. "Call me unbeatable when it comes to challenges." She laughed. "Though on most voyages, I'm assigned to scullery maid, because I'm a girl… which is kind of like slavery sometimes."

* * *

After a warm breakfast Ariah walked up to Scroop, there was a small smirk on her face.

"What now?" The crimson arachnid grumbled.

"Well naturally you're going to wash all of the dishes." Ariah stated. She sucked the last bits of stew from her spoon. "And then you're going to…" Ariah paused to think for a moment. "Clean out the laser cannons."

"What?" Scroop exclaimed.

"Get to work, Mister Scroop." Ariah smiled and placed her empty bowl of stew on one of the mess hall's wooden tables. "A clean ship's a happy ship." She declared.

Ariah scampered back up to the main deck. Jim followed her up the stairs to the deck, giving Scroop a sly grin before leaving the mess hall.

Scroop grumbled angrily, trying to keep control his inner rage. He returned to the galley and began to wash the tilting piles of dishes.

* * *

"Why are you just hanging there?" Jim asked Ariah. He sat on a solar sail rigging above her while she slumbered in her full body harness.

"Because this is what sailors do when there's nothing else to do…" Ariah yawned and eased back in her harness.

She clicked her retracted solar glider's bundle to her back, for later testing if ever the mood struck her.

"You've probably got the most hands-on job on the entire ship as a cabin boy." Ariah stated as she gently closed her copper-brown eyes and admired the summer air.

"Oh." Jim sighed and leaned back against the mast of the ship and began to doze off a little bit.

Though being a sailor wasn't as adventurous as he had thought it was, the job was better than a dishwasher's. Now he could see why brawls and challenges were such big things when it came to a sailor's life.

* * *

Scroop finished off the last pile of dishes and left the stuffy galley. He sighed tiredly as he exited the lower deck and felt the warm starlight against his sweating face. A summer-like breeze circulated the upper deck pleasantly.

The crimson alien clicked towards one of the few laser cannons equipped to the RLS Legacy and he opened the main energy hatch. This was where the laser cannon's energy crystals charged up, in order to form the laser cannon's ammo, when in use.

Scroop removed the light blue triangular crystals from the base of the hatch and he retrieved the round brush used to clean the cannons.

* * *

Ariah opened her copper-brown eyes as soon as she heard Scroop's familiar arachnid skittering below her. She yawned, stretching in place, and she eased down to the deck.

After unclipping herself from her bungee chord, Ariah felt a sudden ache in her back. She frowned, rubbing the tender spot gingerly, and then she decided to ignore it. She looked up from the deck and watched Scroop clean out two more laser cannons; one remained.

A lumbering alien, one of the few allowed to operate the laser cannons and maintain an even acceleration speed for the RLS Legacy -in its boiler room-, walked out onto the deck. He was wearing his usual grubby pair of dark violet trousers, barely held up by a thick leather belt, and a dark indigo open-chest vest that exposed his large stomach and much of his sweaty light orange skin. He looked over the laser cannon that Scroop was currently cleaning.

A sneaky grin spread across his gluttonous visage, for he –like most of the crew- enjoyed playing tricks on other sailors when the chance presented itself. And with Scroop's body halfway in an uncharged laser cannon, the overweight alien was itching to do something.

Ariah watched the rotund alien sourly. It wasn't likely that the other alien would severely harm her crimson slave by launching him out of an uncharged laser cannon. Still, there were asteroids floating around the Legacy, and even without the needed energy crystals, an uncharged laser cannon had the same power to launch any loaded object quite a ways away. The female sailor instinctively sensed something was bound to go wrong.

She clipped the end of her bungee chord to her fully body harness and scaled the mainmast rapidly, until she was beside Onus in the crow's nest.

"How's it going with big slaving day, Miss Clarke?" Onus asked with his thick accent.

"It won't be going anywhere good if my thoughts are correct." Ariah stated. "Look at what's going down on the main deck."

Onus pulled out his telescope with a peach-skinned tentacle and looked down at the deck with all of his eyes while Ariah squinted at the scene below them.

The two sailors watched as the light orange-skinned alien shoved Scroop completely into the main hatch of the laser cannon, locked the arachnid in the barrel of the laser cannon, climbed up to the aiming area of the laser cannon, and launched Scroop out of the uncharged laser cannon.

The crimson alien was propelled out of the laser cannon at incredible speeds after a rumbling BOOM and the roar of the obese alien's laughter could be easily heard from the crow's nest.

* * *

"Great." Ariah huffed furiously. She doubled checked that her harness was secured, flexed her shoulders and leapt out from the crow's nest.

The young inventor dived through the summery air towards the main deck. She released the chord that opened the solar glider's wings and fired up the rockets, powered by the stored pre-charge in the solar cells. Ariah soared from the limits of the RLS Legacy towards the outer space.

Ariah spotted the flying object, which was Scroop, while her solar glider soaked up the solar winds' energy. The wings began glowing a bright gold and the rockets released an additional blast of energy.

Rapidly, Ariah came up by Scroop's side and grasped him by the pincers. "You not getting away that easily." She smiled.

Scroop scoffed as Ariah turned around and soared back towards the RLS Legacy. She hit a retraction switch on her harness, which helped speed up their return, as they were against the solar winds. Ariah poor eyes were tearing up from the irritation of flying through space, unprotected.

* * *

Finally, Scroop and Ariah came up alongside the RLS Legacy. Ariah allowed her solar glider's wings to retract back into its backpack form as she and Scroop grasped onto the railing of the ship.

A small crowd of sailors were grouped around the laser cannon, waiting to see some more action. Ariah heaved herself over the railing and inelegantly dropped to the main deck while Scroop swiftly was on his feet, staring down the orange-skinned alien.

Ariah could see the anger in Scroop's eyes being fought back and couldn't help but be tempted to see what would happen if he should be allowed to release it. She lazily coiled up her bungee chord and clipped it to her harness as she walked out of the crowd.

All eyes were on her. She stopped, feeling the same ache in her back, and she turned to face her slave.

"I will allow you to fight him, if you want to Scroop." Ariah sighed tiredly. "I'm going to take a nap."

She looked up frankly at the crimson alien. He waited, knowing that there was more to it.

"But if you do decide to fight, please don't let it escalate so that the captain or Mister Arrow have to send you to the brig." Ariah warned directly. "I will still require your services as a personal slave for the next few hours…"

She paused and glanced at the trembling orange-skinned alien.

Ariah added briefly. "Try not to kill him. I'd imagine that Silver wants to keep our crew's numbers relatively high." There was a small smirk on her face.

The young woman exhaustedly trudged towards the steps that led down to the lower decks. She stopped at the first step and glanced back at her slave.

"Oh, and once you're done fighting; I want you to scrape the space barnacles from the bottom of the ship." She stated, before disappearing into the lower decks.

"Yes, Miss Clarke." Scroop's golden eyes glinted dangerously. He opened his pincers and prepared to release his anger that he had built up from that morning.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Oh and _'thank ye'_ to Whisperwings for editing this chapter. You're awesome!

**MG#6**


	14. The Adversity of Mister Scroop

**Author's Note:**

Ah, chapter fourteen… apparently that's a good luck number to some. Not some much for Scroop as we continue his day of slavery.

* * *

**Chapter 14: The Adversity of Mister Scroop**

Ariah rubbed her aching back as she sat down on her cloth hammock. She ignored the muted scuffling from the upper deck, hoping that Captain Amelia and Mister Arrow's hearing wouldn't end up caging her slave.

She kicked off her dark leather boots, removed her solar glider and her harness –placed them in her duffel bag- and she slowly lay down in her hammock.

The young sailor sighed with relief and she feel asleep from fatigue, despite the muffled fighting above deck and the bright rays of starlight pouring through the portholes into the dusty air of the crew's sleeping quarters.

* * *

Scroop left the crowd of sailors after knocking out the fat, orange-skinned alien that dared to launch him out of a laser cannon.

The crimson slave located the lift used to access the bottom of the ship, adjusted it appropriately and began carefully scraping off the barnacles with the tips of his pincers at the bow's port side. He needed to get the job done, and it was nearly midday already.

* * *

Jim found himself always being followed about by Morph. Though the blob could be annoying at times, he figured it was better company than most on this ship, now that Ariah was taking a nap. He and the transformer were currently sitting out on the bow's netting. They were staring at the thousands of galaxies expanding outwards from the ship.

The brunette teenager sighed and lay down across the netting. He let his thoughts flow freely through his mind as the afternoon starlight cast its warming rays upon the Legacy.

Morph copied Jim, resting a miniature form of Jim against the original Jim's shoulder and mimicking Jim's sigh in a high-pitched voice. Jim snorted at the transformer antics and kept thinking.

* * *

Ariah awoke to a very painful spasm in her back. She only just stopped herself from yelling out in pain by clapping her hands over her mouth. Her copper-brown eyes watered momentarily as the sharp sting passed.

The young woman let out a shuddering sigh as she got to her feet. Her legs trembled from aftershock of the sudden jolt. Ariah half-heartedly pulled on her boots and lifted herself from her hammock.

She thought to herself of possible ailments that could be overcoming her body.

_'No, it's not that time of month…'_ she ruled out quickly. She pushed back her red bandanna and wiped her sweating forehead with the back of her hand.

_'Maybe its some sort of bug or something…'_ she pondered. _'__Bug. That's right…'_ Ariah sighed and feebly climbed up to the upper deck to check on Scroop.

* * *

Scroop scraped off the last sticky barnacle from the bottom of the RLS Legacy and tossed it outwards into the depths of outer space. He sighed from exhaustion and pulled the lift up, so he could get to the main deck. He met Ariah once he reached the main deck.

"Yes?" Scroop asked bluntly.

"Do you know where Jim is?" She asked tiredly. Her normally pale skin was sicklier colourless than usual and she swayed a little on the spot.

"Cabin Boy is at the bow." Scroop stated gruffly. He climbed back onto the main deck and secured the lift. The crimson arachnid narrowed his golden eyes curiously. "You sick or something?"

"No… it's nothing, thanks." Ariah cleared her throat and shook off the dizziness. "You go help Silver with lunch." She smiled weakly. "Try not to boil your pincer… again."

Scroop rolled his golden eyes and walked across the deck. When he was at the top of the stairwell into the mess hall, Scroop couldn't help but glance back at Ariah suspiciously before entering the stuffy confines of the galley.

Ariah dragged herself to the ship's bow, leaned over its outer railing and smiled softly at the sight she saw in the bow's netting.

Of all of the places to take an afternoon nap, the front netting in the glaring starlight was an odd one. Ariah chuckled lightly and allowed Jim and Morph to rest, _'no doubt they're exhausted from this morning's sailing activities…'_ she thought sarcastically. She rubbed the back of her head and walked towards the galley.

* * *

Ariah walked down the steps into the galley and mess hall of the RLS Legacy. She was exhausted from the strange illness affecting her.

"Can't stay away from me too long can yeh, darling?" John Silver chuckled warmly through the thick steam of the galley.

"Hmm." Ariah smiled weakly and sat down at one of the benches closest to the galley section of the mess hall. "I'm just tired, I guess…" She yawned.

"I believe that's what the crew's quarters are for." Silver raised an eyebrow.

Ariah pressed her chin against the back of her hands and sighed tiredly. "It's much darker in here." She stated. "Plus Zoff decided to take an afternoon nap too." She raised her eyebrows frankly. "And you know how _he_ sleeps."

"Hmm…" Silver nodded in agreement.

"So what are you two cooking up for lunch?" Ariah asked, spotting Scroop's familiar silhouette through the cloud of steam in the galley.

"Purpaya Sashimi." Scroop stated bluntly. He was frying up a long rack of fish and cubed purps between the stoves in the galley.

"Mmm…" Ariah smiled. "Wake me when it's ready." She yawned, rested her cheek against the cool wooden surface of the table and fell asleep in her arms.

The two male sailors shook their heads knowingly at the black-haired teenager and then continued cooking the crew's lunch.

* * *

Ariah was woken up to a gentle prodding in her shoulder. She grumbled incoherently and then gradually opened her copper-brown eyes. A delicious aroma of fried food filled her nose and she smiled softly.

Scroop placed a plate of Purpaya Sashimi in front of her and then went to eat his own portion in the galley as well as started to wash the pots, pans and cooking utensils.

Ariah sat up and rolled her shoulders. The ache from her back had now spread to her shoulder blades and was quite a nuisance. She ignored the ache for the time being and began eating the food presented before her.

* * *

A long while passed, the rest of the crew loudly entered the mess hall, hungrily gobbling up their quantities of Purpaya Sashimi.

Ariah sluggishly took her time eating her own lunch; fading in and out of listening to the buzz of conversations around her.

"Ariah… are you alright?" A voice asked her directly.

"Hmm?" Ariah snapped back to reality and looked across the table from her. It was Jim.

"You look kind of…" Jim tilted his head. "Sick."

Ariah sighed. "Don't worry about it, Jim." She shrugged. "It'll likely pass."

* * *

The afternoon on the RLS Legacy dragged on longer than expected. Twice, Ariah had tried to take a nap in the crew's quarters, only to be awoken by the same painful spasm in her back after a few minutes of slumber.

Scroop had finished washing, drying and putting away all of the tableware from lunch, then he was sent out to polish the mainmast by Ariah along with more monotonous tasks.

Finally the hot and humid day drew into the dark and cool evening. Scroop and Silver began preparing dinner for the crew, a combination stew of breakfast and lunch's leftover ingredients.

Jim, Ariah and Morph spent most of the time out in the netting of the bow. Jim told Ariah stories about his _boring_ and repetitive life on his home planet -Montressor- while Ariah admired them. To her, Jim's stories were basically telling her how something of a normal person would live their life on a daily basis at her age.

Before long, Silver clanged the dinner bell and the crew swarmed into the mess hall to get their share of food.

Ariah didn't have much of an appetite during dinner, but she enjoyed watching Silver tell another of his adventurous stories about him and a past best friend of his. His mechanical arm was used expertly to display shadow puppets of key elements in his story.

Then -while Scroop was beginning his round of washing dishes and starting to peel vegetables and thick-skinned fruit for storage purposes- Ariah and Jim went back out to the bow's netting, where they counted constellations and shooting stars.

* * *

After a few hours of lying beside Ariah in the bow's netting, Jim sat up. We should probably be getting to bed." He stated. "It's getting pretty late." Jim rubbed his neck.

"Hmm." Ariah nodded in agreement. "You go ahead, Jim. I'm going to stay out for a little while longer."

"Oh." Jim sighed. "Okay." He shrugged. "Good Night, Ariah."

"Good Night, Jim." Ariah smiled faintly.

Jim stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and walked towards the crew's quarters. Morph hugged Ariah's face 'good night' before following the cabin boy.

Ariah sighed, enjoying the night air under a blanket of billions of stars.

Sooner than later, the familiar ache in her back forced her to leave the bow's netting, but this time, she wasn't going to ignore it.

* * *

"Hey Scroop…" Ariah called cool-headedly into the galley, where Scroop was still peeling vegetables and thick-skinned fruits.

There was an unusual frailty to her as she walked down the steps into the galley, now pleasantly cooled by the night's air. Silver had already retired to bed, leaving the two sailors alone in the galley.

"What do I have to do now?" Scroop asked.

"Oh…" Ariah gently sat down at a bench. "Just _one_ last thing as my personal slave." She folded her arms in front of her.

Scroop placed the last peeled vegetable into the storage barrel. "And that would be?"

* * *

Ariah strained a smile. "I, um, was wondering if you could help me." She grimaced as she moved. "Put some healing ointment on my back." She sighed unsteadily. "And then bandage me."

Scroop could spot all of the subtle signs of pain that Ariah was trying to hide and his facial expression softened minutely. It was a rare and nearly impossible thing, to see genuine concern in Scroop's golden eyes.

It truly aggrieved him to see Ariah in such a great deal of pain.

"I think…" Ariah paused as she winced in soreness. "That those wolf-aliens, back in Gyrogga, pounded me pretty badly." She cringed a bit. "This morning's _little hassle_ seemed to add up." She sighed finally, pulled out a large jar of healing ointment and a roll of bandages, and placed them on the table in front of her. "And all of my crashes from testing my solar glider -with Jim- didn't help much for the pain." She shrugged.

Scroop growled at the mere mention of Jim's actual name and his golden eyes narrowed in irritation. "Why don't you get _Cabin Boy_ to do it?" He snapped. "I'm sure he'd be thrilled to see you, topless." The crimson alien turned away angrily.

Ariah raised an eyebrow, surprised at Scroop's reaction. She detected a subtle hint of what could only be jealousy… but that was impossible.

Ariah snapped from her thoughts and cleared her throat. "Because Jim's asleep now, and you're still my slave for two more hours." She recoiled a bit from another spasm in her back and hissed through her teeth. "Besides, I trust you…" Ariah added.

Scroop sighed. "Fine." He quickly wiped the sticky fruit and vegetable juices from his pincers with a dishtowel and kept his back to Ariah.

"Thanks… Scroop." Ariah said gratefully.

She untied the front lacing of her red vest, gently slipped it off and slowly pulled off her ivory peasant top. The sensitivity in her back made movement a little confined.

Ariah opened the lid to the healing ointment and unrolled most of the bandages. Then she turned her back to Scroop, with her bundle of removed clothing covering her breasts.

"You can start now…" Ariah stated plainly.

* * *

Scroop promptly turned around to observe what he was working with. His golden eyes nearly bulged completely out of their sockets and he was speechless what he saw.

Ariah's back was so darkly bruised that the crimson alien could hardly see any signs of her naturally pale skin; besides some tiny little ribbons between patches of bruising.

Among the horrendous amount of bruises were scars of previous wounds, but there were a few fresh slices -barely scabbed over- running across the width of her back.

"Is it bad?" Ariah asked timidly. She cleared her throat. "Because it feels pretty painful from having it, but…" She paused. "I may just be exaggerating."

"I don't think you're exaggerating enough." Scroop stated gruffly.

"It's _that_ bad?" Ariah enquired with a small groan.

* * *

Scroop clicked over to the bench and dipped the smooth side of his right pincer into the wide-mouthed jar of healing ointment. He exhaled softly at the relief the mint-scented ointment gave to his previously boiled pincer. Then he lifted his ointment-coated pincer from the jar.

Slowly and carefully, Scroop smoothed his pincer over Ariah's heavily bruised back. The injured sailor sighed out calmly, feeling the relief of the ointment progress into her body.

The crimson alien paused when Ariah let out a small pained yelp; the ointment seemed to be stinging her opened wounds. He waited a moment as Ariah felt the nipping surpass and she nodded. Scroop then was extra careful when handling the fresher cuts.

* * *

Ariah observed that Scroop was very gentle as he tended to her. Most of the crew, she was guessing, would've just plopped the ointment on, tied the bandages around her and then send her back to work.

But Scroop was different… Was it, knowing him for four years as a sailor -and as a friend- that gave him that strange characteristic? Was it something else that Scroop felt about her? Or was it simply the fact that since Scroop's slavery proceeded until midnight, he was taking his time to both properly attain to Ariah's wounds and to make sure he didn't have to do any other strange tasks?

The young woman assessed her thoughts as Scroop spread the soothing ointment over her uncovered back. She had wondered exactly what the crimson alien had meant after he had taken out all of the mobsters in Gyrogga.

_'You should take better care of the ones you care for…' _He had said and then he had left.

Exactly whom was he referring to and of whom? Was he telling Jim to take better care of her, or Silver to take care of her? Was he telling her to take care of either or both of the males, or vice versa? Or was Scroop telling them that he was setting the example of taking better care of one of them? Thoughts like these pried at and confused Ariah's exhausted mind and she gently set her chin against the cool wood of the galley's table.

* * *

Finally, Scroop closed the jar of ointment, washed his mint-scented pincer and began preparing the lengthy torso bandage. He speared the end of the torso bandage on the tip of his right pincer and gently held it in place on the small of Ariah's back.

Then -carefully guiding around Ariah's torso- Scroop wrapped the lengthy bandage to the young woman's healing back. He cautiously monitored how tightly he bound the torso bandage; making sure that it was tight enough to avoid unravelling, but loose enough so it wouldn't constrict Ariah's ability to breathe.

The widest part of the bandage was expertly placed at the exact spot where Ariah's breasts were, which is what the torso bandage was designed for. Scroop cleared his throat, Ariah looked up from the table, and he gave her the end of the bandage.

Ariah smiled softly and Scroop turned away. She placed her clothes on the table beside the jar of ointment and wrapped the thick part of the bandage twice across her breasts, so they were modestly concealed.

The healing sailor cleared her throat in the same manner and then handed Scroop back the end of the bandage.

The crimson arachnid wrapped the last few feet of the bandage around her torso and finished off the bandage with a small knot. Scroop pulled the other end of the bandage from his right pincer's tip and tenderly tucked it under the rest of the binding.

"Done." Scroop stated.

Ariah looked up and smiled weakly to the crimson alien. "Scroop..." She sighed and stood from the bench. "You're free from being my slave." Her natural smirk returned to her face. "At least until you lose another challenge." She added smoothly.

Scroop snorted and turned away, preparing to leave the galley.

"Wait."

Scroop faced the young woman with a curious expression.

Ariah walked up to her best friend and gently hugged him around the middle.

"Thank you." She said warmly. "I really, really, appreciate it…"

Scroop wrapped his pincers lightly around Ariah and hugged her back.

"Well." He shrugged. "An order's an order."

Ariah separated the hug and looked up at the red sailor. "I'm going to bed." She turned away and grasped her clothes. "Fresh day tomorrow…" She yawned loudly.

She casually slipped her ivory shirt over her bandaged torso, carrying her red vest and the jar of ointment in a bundle under her arm.

"Good night, Mister Scroop." Ariah smiled and left the galley.

A silent, hopeless reply slipped from Scroop's fangs. "Good night… Ariah."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

And so ends Scroop's day of slavery… (Sigh)

Well, thanks a bunch to Whisperwings for editing this chapter.

**MG#6**


	15. Metaphorical Purps

**Author's Note:**

And now, on to the next day!

* * *

**Chapter 15: Metaphorical Purps**

Ariah awoke early the next morning, feeling much healthier than she had expected. She hopped out of her hammock, being carefully not to hit her head against Birdbrain Mary's hammock, directly above her own. She looked around her. Everyone else was still asleep.

She sighed happily and quickly removed her peasant top, opting for just her laced up red vest and her bandaged torso, and pulled on her dark brown trousers. She left her excess clothing at the bottom of her duffel bag. She grabbed a piece of twine, and tied her black hair in a ponytail and pushed back her bangs with her red bandanna.

The young sailor tugged at the bottom edge of her laced up vest so it covered most of her bandaged torso. There was only about an inch of visible bandages between her belt and her vest, but it wasn't likely that anyone would notice this.

Then she zipped up her duffel bag and shouldered it. She would need a few things from it and it was basic knowledge not to leave one's effects sprawled around their hammock while using their duffel bag for other purposes… especially with this crew.

Ariah left the crew's quarters, ambled around the lower deck, and finally entered the RLS Legacy's longboat dock house. There was no one in sight and the two longboats swung gently from the ceiling from the steady movement of the ship.

The young inventor began pulling out the needed effects from her duffel bag. She pulled out her blueprints of a new addition to the solar glider. They were for a pair of gloves, which would have the system's functions and controls installed into them, so the user wouldn't be restrained just to the normal controls that stuck out of the glider. Ariah smoothed the blue prints across a bulletin board; pining each dog-eared corner into place.

Ariah slipped on her elbow-length work gloves and searched the bottom of the duffel bag for her pair of large welding goggles. Once she found them, she hung them on a hook by her blueprints and continued assembling her things. Ariah pulled out a toolbox from one of the lower shelves in the dock house and got to work.

* * *

Jim was back into the monotonous schedule of being cabin boy. The moment he woke up and left the crew's sleeping quarters, Silver had ordered him to scrub the upper decks.

He used a hand-held scrub brush to push around the puddle of warm, sudsy water. Morph zipped around his head. He cheerfully babbled and occasionally turned himself into a miniature scrub brush to help Jim. So now things were back to normal…

* * *

After hours of tedious work in the dock house, with the occasional stop to pick up some purps or a small meal from the galley, and Ariah had finally completed the solar glider's control gloves.

They were built into her work gloves and they responded to the correct functions as far as she could tell. She sighed and started putting away her things.

Perhaps later on in the week, she would test out the gloves with her solar glider; that is, if both she and Jim got some free time.

Ariah zipped up her duffel bag, now much heavier from the amount of equipment she was storing in it, and brought it to the crew's sleeping quarters. She placed it under her hammock and immediately left the room.

She stepped out on the main deck into the evening air, now pleasantly cooled by the nightly rotations of the stars and planets in surrounding galaxies. She stretched her bare arms out in front of her and pulled her hair out of her ponytail. Ariah didn't sense that she was in fact, being watched.

* * *

"Hey Ariah." Jim greeted the black-haired teenager. He was carrying a basket of purps in his arms.

"Hey Jim." Ariah smiled faintly. Her black hair was down from its ponytail, dropping elegantly to her shoulders.

"I guessed that you didn't want to come down for dinner." Jim smiled. "So I decided that maybe you'd like a starlit picnic…"

Ariah giggled. "Sure, why not." She sat down beside Jim, with Morph buzzing by their shoulders, and they began feasting on the purple-skinned purps.

* * *

"Yuck." Jim shuddered after he took a bit out of a smooth-skinned purp. He spat out the chunk he had been eating and tossed the purp overboard. "It's rotten inside." He growled disgustedly. He wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his jacket. "And I thought that was one of the good ones." Jim coughed a couple times, trying to rid his mouth of the unpleasant taste. "Ever had that happen to you, Ariah?" He asked randomly.

Ariah sighed hopelessly. "Yeah, I've had that sort of thing happen to me before." She leaned against the polished, wooden railing. "Both by just eating purps and sort of metaphorically; at least I think."

"Metaphorically? What do you mean?" Jim asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well." Ariah glanced out at the stars. "There was this one guy I met a few voyages before this one." She paused and fiddled with the ends of her hair. "He seemed to be an all right guy, I guess." Ariah's soft smile disappeared. "But, when I got to know him..."

She huffed and pushed herself away from the railing. She walked towards the bow.

"He ended up being a smarmy jerk." She sighed. "But you know." Ariah grabbed a smooth-skinned purp from Jim's basket, tossing it lightly in her hand. "I learnt a valuable lesson from that idiot's betrayal." She looked at the purp meaningfully and then heaved it as far out into space as she could. "You can't trust many people."

"Oh." Jim stepped up beside Ariah at the bow's railing. "Did he hurt you?"

Ariah frowned and leaned against her elbows. "Not physically." She shook her head and looked away from Jim, out to the stars. "But yes… it hurt." She murmured the last part more to herself than to Jim.

Morph whimpered at the sad expression on Ariah's face and began crying loudly.

"Oh Morph." Ariah smiled at the little blob. "I'm sorry I upset you." She apologized dearly to the transformer as she cuddled him in her hand.

There was a small pause.

"Did you cry?" Jim asked.

"A little." Ariah admitted quietly.

She nuzzled her cheek gently against Morph's cool rubbery body. She smiled and picked up another purp from Jim's basket.

"But you know…" She laughed. "I've also had the alternative happen too." She grazed her hand over the purp; it was slightly bruised and battered on the outside. "Sometimes you get a purp that looks pretty _unappealing_." She looked at the purp in her palm. "But most of the time, they're just as sweet and normal inside, despite their exterior."

Ariah smirked at Jim, who raised an eyebrow.

"The only way to truly tell is if you sink your teeth into them."

Ariah gently bit into the purp and Jim laughed in agreement.

* * *

Morph looked at the two teenagers, seeing how close they stood to each other. A plot began forming in his little head. The tiny transformer giggled sinisterly –though with his high-pitched voice it was quite comical- and acted quickly.

The pink blob pushed Jim forward with astonishing strength that one would never have guessed he possessed from his size between the shoulder blades.

"Morph!" Jim yelled at Morph, who ignored him with a giggle. Morph continued shoving Jim until he fell against Ariah.

Ariah dropped the purp she was eating and she quickly grasped Jim around the shoulders, trying to steady them both so they wouldn't fall overboard. Jim's arms were above his head, and he was trying to locate the evasive transformer with a scowl on his face.

Morph chirped victoriously, wrapping the two teenagers together in a pink rope around their waists so they were even closer.

"Morph." Ariah scolded. "This isn't funny…" She snapped.

The little transformer laughed loudly.

"C'mon Morph." Jim groaned. "Let us go." He prodded the pink rope.

Morph protested audibly. He changed a small part of him into two lips smacking against each other, to illustrate what had to be done.

"You can't be serious." Jim moaned.

Morph wrapped more of himself around the two teenagers pulling them closer together.

"Oh he's serious." Ariah winced at the tightness of Morph's rope against her bandaged torso. Not that the shifter was to blame; neither he nor most of the crew knew about he only recently healed injuries.

* * *

The teenagers stared awkwardly each other and the scowls melted from their faces.

Jim's pale blue eyes locked with Ariah's copper-brown eyes, and he couldn't help but notice how dazzling they looked in the starlight. Ariah looked back at Jim and noted that he was quite dashing with the hundreds of stars surrounding him.

Ariah's hands instinctively moved from Jim's shoulders to the base of his neck and her fingers spread open. Jim shivered, cupping Ariah's chin with one hand, the other instinctively wrapped around her ribcage.

They stared at each other for a while, until Morph urged them impatiently.

"Morph cut me some slack." Jim growled irritably, his hand moved from Ariah's chin to her shoulder. "It takes;" He paused awkwardly. "Time…"

Morph grumbled, extending the end of his rope to Jim's ear and making kissing noises.

Ariah giggled at Morph's antics. "You never done this, have you?" Ariah smirked minutely at Jim's unease.

"No…" Jim admitted defeat, looking away. "I'm still the loser I was back at home."

"Hey, join the club." Ariah laughed knowingly with a smile. "On my home planet… people treated me differently because of who I was…"

"You?" Jim raised an eyebrow. "No way."

Ariah nodded. "It's true…"

"But you're so…" Jim looked down into Ariah's eyes, "…amazing." He paused. "How come you don't have a mob of guys chasing after you?" He sighed. "And, here's me…"

Ariah giggled. "Don't beat yourself up, Jim." She looked up into Jim's eyes. "I've never met anyone like you… and…" She cleared her throat. "Well, I haven't had much practise with _this_ either."

The black-haired teenager eased up onto the tips of her toes to make up for their height difference. She gently pulled Jim's neck down and locked lips with him tenderly.

* * *

Scroop snarled loudly from where he hid in the dark shadows of the closed solar sails' riggings. He was very tempted to slice a hole through the mast, but his self-control to keep himself hidden -for the time being- stop the release of burning rage.

His golden eyes couldn't stand the sight of Ariah and Jim kissing, yet they couldn't deceive him from the naked truth. Ariah was getting too close… again.

* * *

Morph hooted, exploding into fireworks around Ariah and Jim's heads as his rope disappeared from around their waists.

They held the kiss.

"Mmm…" Ariah smirked as she gently pulled away from the embrace. "Sweet."

Jim laughed, unwrapping himself from her.

"And now." Ariah gently clutched Jim's hand within her own. "We should go down to supper..." She smiled. "After all, we can't just live off of purps."

"Sounds good." Jim smiled. He entwined his fingers with Ariah's and led her down to the mess hall with the half empty basket of purps under his arm.

* * *

Scroop panted, trying to control his fury. Quietly, he skittered down the mast and kept to the shadows until he was on the main deck.

His golden eyes burned the colour of molten lava as he was nearly consumed by his rage, by his jealousy.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hmm… I think an action scene is needed pretty soon.

What do you guys think?

**MG#6**

PS: Thanks a bunch to Whisperwings, again, for editing this chapter.


	16. Hotter than Hell

**Author's Note:**

And now for a serving of action with a side of plot (Would you like fries with that?)

* * *

**Chapter 16: Hotter than Hell**

Silver sat down with his serving of dinner in the mess hall. He predicted that it would only be moments before someone demanded that he should tell one of his tales.

But something was a little out of place in the mess hall. He examined the tables and found the source.

Ariah and Jim were sitting side by side at their table. For once Ariah looked like she was enjoying herself. Usually she sulked in the corner, half-asleep until he began telling one of his stories. Jim too was bright-eyed and merry, something that Silver hadn't seen during the entire voyage.

Lastly, from what John Silver could tell, aside from the odd absence of a certain crimson arachnid, was that Ariah and Jim were acting unusually close. Not the same closeness between the two teenagers as friends, but something a _little_ closer.

"Oi Silver!" Birdbrain Mary screeched across the mess hall. "How 'bout another tale, to keep us up and at 'em?" She demanded, narrowing her bright black eyes.

Silver smirked, finished the last bit of his dinner, and stood up from the bench.

* * *

After dinner and Silver's energetically performed tale, the crew filed out of the mess hall to head off to bed.

Ariah stayed behind to give a helping hand around the galley before Silver casually shooed her out, stating that she wasn't letting Jim have his share of work.

The young sailor laughed at the cyborg's comment and reluctantly left the mess hall, but not without merrily a wishing the two men a good night. Ariah climbed out of the lower decks, taking a little nightly stroll among the stars.

* * *

The female sailor gently stretched her arms in front of her and walked up to the bow of the RLS Legacy. She leaning against the wooden railing before the bow's netting and calmly looked out at the vast galaxies surrounding her.

A gentle breeze circulated the upper deck, cooling down the atmosphere of the ship, until it was almost sleepy-like. The millions of stars around the Legacy twinkled brilliantly.

While in near-meditation, Ariah didn't notice two burning, golden eyes behind her narrow and focus on her as a dark shadow soundlessly crept up to the main deck.

She didn't notice anything -except the calm environment she stood in- until it was ripped from her by a pair of crimson pincers as Scroop pulled her back into the shadows by her bare shoulders.

* * *

"Jimbo..." Silver carved the skin off a vegetable and placed it in a storage barrel.

"Yeah, Silver?" Jim looked up from the tableware he was tediously washing.

"I don't mean teh impose on yer own business…" Silver rubbed the back of his neck with his human hand. "But," Silver paused and looked over Jim. "Is there somethin' goin' on between yeh an' Ariah?"

Jim shrugged his shoulders. "Define 'something'." He stated.

Silver chuckled. "Oh, I reckon yeh know what I mean by somethin', Jimbo." His eyes twinkled daringly.

"Well." Jim stacked the plate he had finished drying on the counter behind him. "I _guess_ you could call it that." He shrugged.

Silver raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Now, it's nothing _that_ serious." Jim waved his hands in front of him. "It's just-" Jim was a little lost of words. He smiled weakly and nonchalantly rubbed the back of his neck.

Silver calmly rose to his feet. "Jimbo…" He looked down at the brunette teenager frankly. "Ariah trusts yeh." He stated. "I can tell 'cause I've known her so long." He sighed. "But she hasn't tried lettin' herself trust anyone since-" He looked away gravely.

"Since when?" Jim enquired.

The older sailor cleared his throat. "Never yeh mind, Jimbo." Silver lumbered down the aisle between tables in the mess hall, towards the steps leading to the upper deck.

"Since…" Jim glanced up at the cyborg's back. "The Smarmy Jerk?" Jim asked quietly.

Silver stopped at the base of the steps. "She told yeh 'bout Ortona?" He asked, surprised.

"Uh." Jim stood from his dishwashing stool. "She… didn't give me a name."

"Aye." Silver turned around. "I can see why." He rubbed his chin. "She never _did_ like sayin' his real name, after what he did teh her."

"What did he do to her?" Jim asked, looking up at Silver with concerned curiosity.

Just as Silver was about to answer, the two men heard a familiar yelp of pain coming from the upper deck. It was Ariah.

* * *

"Damn that hurt." Ariah cursed as she wiped her bleeding cheek. Scroop's pincers were much sharper than most would anticipate, and they had sliced through he skin easily.

The arachnid grasped Ariah from behind and threw her against the mainmast. Ariah's bare right shoulder smashed against the wood of the mainmast and she tried to steady herself back onto her feet. Before she could do anything, Scroop grasped her by the neck and bashed her already injured shoulder against the mainmast a choice few times.

Ariah desperately fought for the ability to breath, trying not to show weakness against her opponent. She managed to prop her elbow against the mainmast, giving her a concrete stance, and then she let her other fist come down hard on the inside of Scroop's elbow.

The enraged arachnid released Ariah immediately, allowing her to fall quite the distance to the main deck while he reeled back. Ariah hit the deck with a loud crash, and let out a short gasp as pain shot up the side upon which she had landed.

The young woman fought between the choice of: retreating and screaming for help, or fighting and getting more injuries than she already had. Ariah had little time to decide once she pulled herself to her feet.

Scroop lunged himself at Ariah from the shadows, pinning her back first against the railing of the ship. The female sailor cried out in pain. Scroop knew exactly where to hit, because he knew where her most tender wounds were.

Ariah elbowed Scroop in the side of the head as hard as she could, though it was difficult as she was still pinned against the railing.

The crimson alien screeched and rolled away from the female sailor, back into the seclusion of the shadows. Ariah panted from exhaustion, stepping away from the railing.

It was one thing to fight anyone by daylight; but it was quite another thing to fight a considerably stronger, angrier, and faster alien -in the dark- on the main deck of a moving ship. Ariah straightened up and listened closely through the unnerving darkness. She was in much pain from the fight, and was trying to keep her eyes from watering so she wouldn't be caught unguarded.

Without warning, Scroop pounced at Ariah once more, but the young woman was ready and managed to leap out of the way.

Scroop flew past her, almost soaring overboard the RLS Legacy. But the crimson arachnid grasped the railing agilely with his pincers, spun around and launched himself at the suddenly unprepared sailor.

Ariah was pinned to the deck by the enraged alien's weight, the breath knocked out of her lungs by the force of the hit. Scroop's body pinned down Ariah's torso while his slim red and black legs closed around her in a cage-like manner. The young woman felt utterly trapped and was trying to struggle for freedom.

"Ariah and Cabin Boy." Scroop spat viciously. The tips of his red pincers pointed threateningly at Ariah's throat. "Ariah and Cabin Boy." His bulging golden eyes glowed in fury, and Ariah froze up in terror for a moment.

The young sailor had never seen her best friend consumed by such anger ever before. A passing thought flew by in her mind; she was going to die… her best friend was going to kill her, here and now.

Determined not to go down without a proper fight, Ariah yelled and kicked Scroop as hard as she could. The toe of her dark leather boot hit mostly thick black and red exoskeleton –unlikely doing much damage to the enraged alien- but she managed to throw Scroop off of her. The red arachnid stumbled back a few steps before preparing to hurdle himself at Ariah.

The black-haired teenager quickly got up onto her feet and grabbed something that was poking her from the back pocket of her trousers. She pulled it out and pointed it threateningly at Scroop's torso.

It was a laser pistol. Scroop froze where he stood.

Ariah panted, scared out of her wits and still brandishing the pistol.

* * *

"What's going on up here?" A sharp voice demanded from the aft.

Ariah and Scroop looked over and seen the entire crew looking at them. Captain Amelia and Mister Arrow stood at the front of the crowd, both holding out laser pistols at Ariah.

"Miss Clarke." Mister Arrow said in a cautioned tone. "You've been already warned that there is no brawling permitted on this ship." He paused and aimed the large barrel of his gun at her. "And of the consequences of failing to adhere to these regulations."

Ariah sighed and lowered her laser pistol from its aim at Scroop's torso.

"Miss Clarke." Captain Amelia frowned. "Disarm yourself or I won't hesitate to end your occupation as a sailor on my ship." The feline spacer narrowed her light blue eyes dangerously. She meant business.

Ariah cast her copper-brown eyes at the laser pistol. She took a deep breath and loosened her death grip on the weapon. Ariah turned off the ammunition charger on the laser pistol and dropped it to the deck.

The metal of the laser pistol clattered as it contacted the wood of the deck, then Ariah kicked the weapon aside with a quick sweep of her boot.

Ariah looked back up at her two superiors, who had cautiously put their pistols back into their belt's holsters.

"Come along, Miss Clarke." Mister Arrow beckoned to the female teenager.

Ariah half-heartedly shuffled beside the two commanders. She couldn't meet their eyes, much less any of her crewmember's eyes. She walked down to the lower decks, to the confines of the RLS Legacy's brig...

* * *

Captain Amelia sighed. "I'm truly disappointed in you Miss Clarke." She closed the barred door and locked Ariah's cell in the brig. "I was dearly hoping that you would be different from the rest of your crewmembers." She put away the cell's key in a pocket of her blue coat and walked back to her personal quarters.

"Yeah… so was I." Ariah stated bluntly. She turned away from the barred door and sat down on the small bench attached to the cell's wooden wall. Even the brig was shiny, much like the rest of the ship.

A small barred window filtered the starlight's gentle evening rays down on her from the ceiling of the cell, which was the main deck above her.

The caged sailor lightly touched her hand against the wall of the cell. It was damp from condensation. She looked around the cell and notice the entrance to the boiler room just a few doors down the narrow hallway of the lower deck.

Ariah sighed, wiping the last drops of dried blood from her cheek. _Tomorrow, it'll be hotter than hell in here,_ she speculated.

Suddenly the young sailor groaned, her hands balling into fists as a painful spasm overcame her body.

Since the adrenaline rush from fighting Scroop had warn off, all of the pain that she had hardly felt during the battle, coursed through her body.

The tears that she had been holding back, of pain and fear, slipped from her copper-brown eyes and descended down her cheeks.

She wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and cry her self to sleep… and that's just what she did.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks again to Whisperwings for betaing this chapter in such short time.

**MG#6**


	17. Jailbird Romance

**Author's Note:**

Thanks for proofreading and editing Whisperwings!

And now: on with the story…

* * *

**Chapter 17: Jailbird Romance**

Jim couldn't sleep, to say the least. He was confused by Ariah's sudden pistol-point at Scroop. After all, Ariah had said that she and Scroop were best friends…

In his book: best friends usually don't point laser pistols threateningly at each other with the intent to kill. And what was worst, he couldn't get out of the crew's sleeping quarters without Silver telling him to get back to bed, no matter how quietly he tiptoed.

Morph too was unable to sleep. He had already spent the most of the night as a puddle over Jim's effects, whimpering sadly at the disappearance of Ariah.

Ariah's hammock and duffel bag of effects had been pushed into a dark corner of the crew's sleeping quarters… out of the way.

* * *

The long night was drawing to an end, hardly anyone slept well.

Finally the first piercing rays of starlight shone down on the RLS Legacy. Jim sluggishly got out of his hammock, groggy from the lack of sleep, and he walked to the galley. He had one thing on his mind that he needed to get straightened out.

Silver was already there, beginning to cook the crew's breakfast. The older sailor pondered insightfully about the incident last night.

It was he who had given Ariah the laser pistol the night of the brawl in Gyrogga, and he had never gotten around to asking for it back. He hadn't suspected that such carelessness would've escalated into this.

"Silver?" Jim asked the cyborg through a cloud of steam.

"Yes Jimbo?" Silver yawned.

"What _did_ Ortona do to Ariah?" He demanded.

Silver sighed. He gently poured two servings of breakfast onto separate plates. "I think it'd be best…" He handed the plates to Jim. "If yeh asked Ariah herself." Silver thought for a moment. "By the way." He added, and pressed a medium-sized flask into Jim's free hand. "Give this teh her. It's a healing tonic… she'll need it."

Jim nodded. He pocketed the canteen of liquid, balanced a plate on either hand and walked out of the galley, first up to the main deck, and then down the long steps to the lower decks.

* * *

Ariah's assumption was proven correct the moment the boiler room was fired up and its door was casually left opened. A thick fog of steam covered the entire length of the hallway to the brig, and Ariah's cell was horrendously humid.

Any given sailor that was on the upper deck would've noticed the usual amount of mist rising from the grate on the deck and hardly give it a second thought… but now Ariah realized what it truly was.

The young prisoner had stripped herself of her red vest and boots, now only pacing the cell in her trousers and her bandaged torso. Her black hair was let down from its ponytail and her red bandanna was stuffed into her boots.

Small rivers of sweat sprouted from Ariah's hairline and ran down the length of her face to her neck and down her back. Ariah was getting a little dizzy from the heat and she dearly wished that she had something to drink. Her black hair was plastered to her face and neck from the humidity.

Suddenly a pair of boots clomped down the steps into the brig. Ariah looked up to the barred door. She could barely see anything through the haze of steam and the dizziness lack of water was giving her. But then a shadow came up to the barred cell and she recognized it.

"Jim?" She asked weakly. She shuffled to the barred door and stood across from Jim.

"Hey." Jim smiled back half-heartedly. "I brought your breakfast." He passed a small plate of food through the bars.

"Thank you." Ariah smiled gratefully. She took the plate into her hands, slowly began to eat her portion of breakfast and sat down on the floor of the cell.

Jim sat down across the wall of bars and began eating his own portion of food. "It's hot as hell down here." He stated, tugging off his jacket so he was only wearing a loose olive green shirt and he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows.

"Seems hotter." Ariah wiped some sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand.

* * *

Morph carelessly whizzed down to the brig through the grate in the ceiling at the sound of Ariah's voice. He snuggled closely to Ariah's cheek.

"Hey Morphy." Ariah smiled at the coolness of Morph's body. She cuddled against the transformer before she looked back at Jim.

"What happened to your…" He nodded at her torso bandages.

"Oh." Ariah looked down at herself. "These?"

"Yeah." Jim waited patiently.

"It's from a little while ago." Ariah shrugged level-headedly.

"And the bruise?" Jim raised an eyebrow.

"What bruise?" Ariah raised an eyebrow back.

Jim pointed at the black-haired prisoner's right shoulder.

Curiously, Ariah looked over her right shoulder. A large, dark purple bruise had formed around the circumference of it; and was discovered tender after an experimental prod.

Ariah cleared her throat and shrugged nonchalantly. "It's likely from the fight." She stated calmly.

"Gosh, he beat you up badly, Ariah." Jim shook his head, stirring his food half-heartedly.

"It's alright, Jim…" Ariah stated.

"No it's not!" Jim shouted, glaring frankly at Ariah through the barred door. "Look at yourself Ariah, you're lucky to be alive…" The brunette teenager sighed. "I've got do something…"

"Jim…" Ariah gasped and shook her head. "Don't…" Her eyes were wide with terror.

"Why not?" Jim snapped angrily. "Look what he's done to you, Ariah!" The cabin boy furrowed his brow. "He should be the one locked up here, not you!"

"Don't go up against him, Jim…" Ariah stated faintly.

"And why not?" Jim glared at Ariah, abandoning his breakfast.

"Because…" Ariah turned away. "I don't want you to get hurt, Jim…"

Jim was silent, realizing how much Ariah cared for him. He sighed, calming down, and grabbed his plate of food. "Fine…" Jim paused. "I'll keep clear of Spider Psycho…"

Ariah smiled weakly, and decided to stay off the topic. "So, is there anything on you mind, Jim?"

"Well…" Jim sighed. "What is it that Ortona do to you?"

"Ortona?" Ariah raised her eyebrows at the mention of the name. Not from annoyance, but mostly from surprise that Jim even _knew_ it.

"Uh." Jim paused. "Silver told me his name." He cringed. "For the Smarmy Jerk?"

"Yeah." Ariah sighed. She leaned against the bars. "I trusted him too much and then he cheated on me." She stated plainly. "With some alien princess we were escorting on that particular voyage." She narrowed her copper-brown eyes. "I guess he was trying to get a leg-up in society while leaving me pounded in the dust." Ariah frowned. "Unfortunately there was some sort of pirate invasion that destroyed his ship before I personally could get a hold of him." She stirred her food half-heartedly.

"Pirate… Invasion?" Jim raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Weren't you on that ship, Ariah?" He asked.

"Not at the time of the invasion." Ariah shrugged. "Me, and some of the crew were sent out on a short expedition to a neighbouring planet to pick up some provisions, but there was a storm on the planet that caused our longboat's engine to fail, and we couldn't reach the ship in time." The young woman sighed. "Most of the crew on the ship escaped safely, but everyone else was caught in the fire that destroyed the ship, or killed by the pirates." She stopped to eat a bit of her breakfast.

"Who were the pirates?" Jim asked.

"I don't know." Ariah shook her head. "The storm that hit us on the planet was pretty bad; a typhoon I think is what they called it..." She paused and smoothed her bangs out of her eyes. "We only got word of the pirate invasion when the rest of the crew landed on the planet the following morning, and the news we got was few in details."

"Oh." Jim ate some of his breakfast silently.

"Anything else?" Ariah enquired. "Or was that what you came down here for?"

"Not only that…" Jim shrugged.

Ariah faced Jim. "What else?" She pushed her empty plate through the bars.

"Well." Jim rubbed the back of his sweating neck. He piled the plates on a small table below a hurricane lamp that glowed in the dimness of the steaming hallway. "I… wanted to give you something too."

Ariah stood up and pressed herself against the bars. "Yes?"

Jim smiled, looking softly into Ariah's copper-brown eyes. He stepped towards the barred doorway to her cell and placed each hand on a bar. They locked sights and Jim leaned forwards, gently kissing Ariah on the lips through the bars.

Ariah was at first surprised from Jim's fervour, but responded with equal zeal as much as she possibly could within the confines of her cell. She slipped her bare arms through the bars and held onto Jim.

"Cabin Boy!" A gruff voice yelled from about them. "You're wanted in the galley."

The brunette teenager reluctantly separated from the kiss. Ariah pulled her arms back into her cell and looked at Jim weakly.

Jim grabbed the canteen from his pocket, and briefly kissed Ariah's on the lips while pressing it into her hand. Then Jim took the pile of dishes and left the brig soundlessly, with Morph buzzing obediently by his shoulder.

Ariah looked at the small canteen Jim had given her and smiled. He truly was a lifesaver… She sighed and thought half-heartedly _'I guess that means we're even…'_

* * *

Perhaps getting in a fight with Ariah was one of the more unintelligent things that Scroop's temper had caused him to do. But at least now, in Scroop's mind, Ariah couldn't run off with the Cabin Boy because she couldn't run off anywhere.

The crimson arachnid in question was currently scaling the mainmast while the rest of the crew was either finishing their breakfast or roaming the deck.

There was an unusual air about the crew after Scroop and Ariah's battle. Uncertainty would be the most appropriate word to describe it.

But at least he knew where Ariah was. It's not like she was going anywhere…

* * *

Ariah couldn't help but feel some odd sense of self-worth as she watched Jim walk up the stairs to the upper decks. Ever since Gordon Ortona's betrayal, she had believed that she simply wouldn't trust anyone to avoid getting hurt.

But now... Jim made her feel the same warm and fuzzy happiness -which she had lost from a broken heart- all over again. But this, she feared, was stronger; and much more powerful than anything else she had ever felt.

* * *

After experiencing the intense heat of the brig, the stuffy galley seemed much more relaxing than ever before to Jim as he washed the morning's dishes. There was an odd sense of cheeriness in the air, and Jim could only explain it as riding on cloud nine.

Even if Ariah was locked up in the brig, at least he wouldn't have to always be searching the ship for her… and as an added bonus, she had kissed him back. This was something he had originally thought that would've given him a hard slap across the face; which meant that she shared his feelings about _them_.

Jim smirked lightly as he scrubbed the bottom of a pot. Kisses were kisses… and though these had been his first few in his entire life from a girl outside his family, there was something he felt deep inside him, even when he was just thinking about Ariah.

He knew now that she was different than everyone else. Not only in the fact that she didn't judge him by his lack of having a father around –though she had only just figured this out- but also just because she was such a good friend.

The cabin boy shook a bit of his bangs out of his eyes and finished up the last of the dishes. He wiped the soapsuds from his water-wrinkled hands on his apron and hung the apron on a peg in the galley.

Jim grabbed the iconic 'Mrs Bucket' and 'Mr Mop' from their dark corner of the galley and walked out onto the main deck to give it a thorough swabbing without having Silver order him to do so.

* * *

Ariah sat in the coolest corner of her cell that she could find. The vaporous steam had faded minutely -from the lesser need of engine power- to a translucent mist, but it was still uncomfortably warm in the brig.

The imprisoned sailor fiddled with the lacing of her vest that she had decided to wear when the temperature dropped slightly. She tugged the last few bits of the string from the holes in her vest until she had an arm's length piece of leather to play around with.

She pushed back her red bandana, ignoring the increase in temperature, and tightened her ponytail. Through the grated opening in the ceiling she could spot a bright comet soaring through the sky. It was probably amazing to see up close.

Ariah smiled fondly. When she was younger, in the beginning years of her adventures as a sailor, she had always begged either Scroop or Silver to take her out to see a comet up close. Only once had the two sailors fulfilled her plea, and that was on her sixteenth birthday where they looked closely at a particularly large comet.

She remembered how cold and eerily bright the centre of the comet had been. The burning chunk of metal was among the most amazing things. All three of them were covered in snow once they exited the comet's tail; but Ariah had always thought of it as one of the best birthday presents anyone had ever given her.

* * *

Once all of his chores were finished after lunch, besides the obvious chores for the upcoming dinner, Jim encountered Silver. His first instinct was to expect more chores, but his unusually cheerful mood made him care less.

Surprisingly Silver didn't give Jim any more chores. Instead he offered to show Jim how the longboats worked, since they now had some free time.

Though Jim already knew the basics of how to drive the longboat -from his and Ariah's little side trip to test her solar glider the few weeks ago- he figured that learning all of the tweaks of it wouldn't hurt. And so… Jim, Morph and Silver left for the dock house.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Yup… Now back on track to the original movie.

**MG#6**


	18. Cloaked in Darkness

**Author's Note:**

Hmm… Now for something from the actual movie!

* * *

**Chapter 18: Cloaked in Darkness**

Lengthy hours passed, Ariah continued staring at the slowly moving comet high above the RLS Legacy.

Occasionally she would rest her aching neck to continue fiddling with the piece of leather in her hands. It was now becoming something of a tightly knotted chain, after she had separated the three thin layers of bi-coloured leather that made up the string, and braided them together.

Ariah tied off the end of the leather chain with a simple reef knot. She tugged at it experimentally, making sure it was secure, and then she sighed inwardly.

Wasn't there anything to do in the brig? Well, if being in the brig was a punishment then the answer was likely 'no'.

* * *

The prisoner pursed her lips into a small frown and she furrowed her eyebrows in thought. Suddenly, a sly smirk appeared across her face as she remembered a particularly annoying and repetitive song that she had fabricated when she was younger.

It required no musical finesse and was entertaining to sing in large groups. She often sung it when she was bored, feeling lonely, or when she was really drunk; at least according to her fellow crewmembers.

Ariah cleared her throat, slipped her arms behind her head, leaned her back against one wall of the brig, and propped the heels of her boots against the bars of her cell's door.

* * *

"If I were a space whale!" Ariah began. "A really big space whale; I would wanna be… really, really pink." She paused to whistle. Then she hollered loudly. "'Cause pink whales are awesome!" The moment Ariah finished saying _'awesome'_ the singing prisoner began the chorus to her ridiculous song. "Swim whale, swim, swim, swim! SWIM whale; swim, swim, swim!"

Ariah stopped singing to laugh aloud. The last few _'swims'_ echoed off of the brig's wall; accompanied only by her laugh and the hum of the ship's engine. She sighed gently and recalled when she was first caught singing the ludicrous melody with a fond smile.

She had to have been only about seven years old, and had been assigned to do a _very_ monotonous chore by her second set of foster parents: she had to clean her room.

While singing this song, she had been overheard by her foster parents' only son, Kyle, who was two years younger than her. Kyle soon joined in with the singing and also helped Ariah finish cleaning her room. He was always willing to help out others…

* * *

The presently eighteen-year-old Ariah chuckled at the thought. Perhaps if she hadn't left that foster home a few months after that particular event, she'd be happily singing this bizarre song with a sixteen-year-old Kyle at this very moment.

Ariah shook off the thought sadly. She had left the foster home and been transferred to another foster home because Kyle's parents had gone bankrupt. They were good people and wanted Ariah to have a better life; so they sent her back into the foster care program.

Of course Ariah had never transferred into another home outside of the planet she was borne on –Treaka- because that would be going against her mother's final will.

Ariah wondered absent-mindedly about where Kyle and his parents were…

* * *

Suddenly the ship jolted, which tossed Ariah out of her thoughts and off of the wooden bench she was seated on. The young teenager groaned a little from the pain of her injured side and she heard a loud snap coming from across her cell.

Ariah looked up a split second before the hurricane lamp, across her cell in the brig, smashed against the bars of her cell's door. Ariah flattened herself against the floor of the cell and covered her head with her bare arms. A few shards of the broken glass sliced easily through the skin of her right forearm while the rest of the hurricane lamp collapsed at the bottom of the barred wall.

When RLS Legacy regained its normal stability Ariah looked over her latest injuries.

Crimson blood ran freely from the cuts, but they weren't too deep as far as she could tell by examining them. She gently picked away the embedded shards of glass and regained her composure. _'That wasn't any ordinary jolt...'_

"Evasive action, Mister Turnbuckle! All hands to stations!" Captain Amelia's orders echoed throughout the RLS Legacy. "All hands fasten your lifelines!"

The black-haired prisoner climbed up onto her feet as the steam from the boiler room increased. The engine had been forced to full throttle.

The boiler room's attendant –the light orange-skinned alien- lumbered quickly up onto the main deck; apparently there was a need for his services elsewhere.

* * *

A blood-red haze developed above deck and scarlet light shone down into the brig. The injured sailor glanced up through the grated window on the ceiling of her cell.

Many sailors rushed fervently to their stations; all of them having a secured lifeline around their waists. Yells of 'a super nova' and 'asteroids off the port side' were heard through the muffled chaos on the main deck.

Ariah growled crossly. She hated being left out, even if it there was a disaster on the main deck while she was in the confines of the brig.

The black-haired prisoner rushed forwards and stretched as much of her uninjured arm as she could between the bars of cell's door. She managed to snatch the skeletal remains of the smashed lantern with the tips of her fingers.

The young inventor quickly twisted the charred pieces of metal into a makeshift lock pick. Then she stood up and began working at the padlock sealing her cell.

* * *

After a few minutes of loosening the inner bolts and screws -with some choice curse words thrown around- a promising click emitted from the padlock.

Ariah sighed victoriously and pulled out the lock pick. She squeezed the twisted piece of charred metal nervously against her palm for luck and then pushed open the barred cell door with her uninjured arm.

The escapee rushed down the hazy hallway of the lower decks. A thick steam bellowed from the boiler room and the engine sounded as if it were working overtime.

Ariah hurried down the last stretch of the hallway, luckily meeting no one. After all, the captain _did_ order all hands on the main deck…

* * *

"Yeah, baby! Ba-boom!" The aliens working at the laser cannons cheered loudly as they shot away flaming asteroids away from the RLS Legacy. They seemed to be the only ones having a good time in the state of chaos.

Ariah climbed out from the lower decks onto the main deck and pocketed her makeshift lock pick. She spotted a free lifeline tied to the main mast. Ariah quickly secured the twine rope lifeline around her waist, as she didn't have enough time to bother searching the ship for her personal effects.

The black-haired teenager went unnoticed through the crowds of busy sailors.

"Secure all solar sails!" Mister Arrow's voice bellowed across the main deck. "Reef them down, men!"

Ariah leapt into action, she ran down the length of the deck and climbed across the bow to the inner-jib and outer-jib. The few sailors that were at the inner- and outer-jib gear began hauling away at their chosen ropes, trying to stow away the solar sails.

* * *

The young female carefully walked out from the bow, intending on untying the ropes that secured the solar sails in their opened position at the bow. She reached the first knot, this one securing the inner-jib, only to have her hands grazed by another pair when she grasped the knot.

Ariah and the person partially hidden by the flailing solar sail looked up at each other simultaneously. Pale blue met copper-brown.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jim exclaimed the moment he recognized Ariah.

"Watch yer language, Jimbo…" John Silver's voice scolded the cabin boy from the very tip of the bow, where he was untying the knot to the outer-jib.

Then John's eyes met Ariah's.

"What in t'underin' hell are yeh doin' 'ere, Ariah?" Silver yelled.

The two teenagers rolled their eyes at Silver's hypocrisy.

"But seriously, what are you doing here?" Jim demanded.

"The captain said all hands on deck." Ariah stated as she quickly untied the knot holding down inner-jib. She immediately ducked down low as the rope quickly became taut from the sailors hauling on the inner-jib gear.

Ariah looked up at Jim and smiled weakly.

The cabin boy sighed and shook his head in disbelief. "Nothing stops you, Ariah."

"You've got that right." Ariah chuckled.

Suddenly there was another horrendous wave of energy from the supernova, which knocked John Silver off of the bow.

"Silver!" Jim leapt forwards and grabbed the older man by his non-mechanical wrist.

Ariah grasped Silver's lifeline and pulled all of her body weight against it. Her palms and fingers began to develop a tingling sensation of rope burn from the friction of Silver's lifeline, but she wouldn't permit pain to stop her.

After a brief length of time, John Silver's mechanical arm reached up and grabbed a hold of the bow. Ariah released Silver's slackened lifeline as Jim helped Silver safely back onto the bow.

"Thanks lad…" Silver sighed gratefully, pushing the tip of his hat out of his eyes.

* * *

Ariah quickly shimmied past the two men, down to the tip of the bow. She ignored the burning along her palms and fingers and quickly finished releasing the outer-jib's knot.

Once both the inner- and outer-jibs were folded away neatly, the three sailors rushed off of the bow before another jolt could fell them.

A few of the sailors working nearby noticed Ariah's unexpected appearance. Most of them shook off the thought as an illusion and resumed their work.

* * *

A particularly large asteroid, one that was at least twice the size of the tall ship, came up onto the port side. No matter how many powerful laser cannon blasts were used, it was worthless against the colossally sized asteroid.

They watched in amazement and fear as the enormous asteroid inched its way closer to the RLS Legacy.

Suddenly, when collision was imminent, the asteroid was sucked backwards, towards the collapsed super nova… and into the depths of a black hole.

* * *

"Mister Hawkins, make sure all lifelines are secured good and tight!" Captain Amelia ordered from the ship's wheel. Apparently Mister Turnbuckle hadn't been able to steer from the gravity of the situation.

"Aye Captain!" Jim rushed off and hurried to the base of the mainmast to do his job.

Ariah parted ways with Silver and rushed over to help secure the topsail. She climbed aloft and scaled the rope ladder to the topsail. She swiftly dodged other aloft sailors, until she reached the topmost rigging of the mainmast, before the crow's nest.

* * *

The tireless teenager met Mister Scroop and Birdbrain Mary at the topmost rigging. They looked at her with identically confused expressions.

"Don't even ask!" Ariah huffed irritably. She took a moment's pause to catch her breath before assuming her position to close the topsail.

Scroop rolled his golden eyes and skittered up to the top of the solar sail. There were a few burn holes in the delicate sail from the flaming asteroids. Ariah took the bottom starboard corner of the sail and pulled on the sail's rope.

The trio of sailors closed the topsail, and then made their ways down the mast to the largest solar sail. Along with the aid of a number of sailors on the riggings and a few hauling on the ropes, the mainsail was folded away.

"Lifelines secured, Captain!" Jim hollered.

* * *

The sailors on the riggings quickly made their ways down to the main deck after the exhausting trial of securing all of the solar sails. Most, if not all of them, scaled the rope ladders on the interior side to avoid risking a fall into the outer depths of the Etherium.

Once all of the sailors that had been securing the solar sails returned to the main deck, a particularly large explosion from colliding asteroids jostled them.

Waves of similar energy; either from the black hole of from things colliding with the RLS Legacy's hull, jostled the ship, toppling some unprepared sailors where they stood.

* * *

"All sails secured, Captain!" Mr. Arrow declared loudly to the feline captain at the Legacy's helm over that cracks and explosions from the black hole.

"Good man!" Captain Amelia responded. "Now, release them immediately." She stated.

"Aye… Captain." Mr. Arrow was minutely confused about his order but loyally turned to the rest of the crew. "You heard her, men. Release the solar sails." He stated.

"What?" The sailors yelled simultaneously.

"But we just finished-" The body half of an alien complained.

"Tying them up!" The head half of the alien stated.

"Make up your blooming minds!" Birdbrain Mary shouted.

After a series of complaints, the sailors obediently climbed up the rope ladders to their stations. Mr Arrow himself joined them. If the captain wanted the job done, then everyone needed to help.

* * *

Ariah was about to join her fellow sailors when one of the lower solar sail's booms swung uncontrollably from the main mast and caught her in the abdomen. She was knocked off of her feet with the air abruptly forced from her lungs.

The polished boom swung outwards and eventually halted; which left Ariah hanging above empty space by only her grip onto the wooden pole and by her lifeline. If either gave away, she'd be doomed.

The shocking cold of space struck her from exposure. It would seem that the might of the black hole had siphoned all of the warmth from the Etherium's regular solar winds.

Ariah's teeth clattered as she tightened her hold on the boom. Having her arms bare and her vest untied didn't help with her exposure to the cold. She tried to pull herself up on top of the boom but a blast from the black hole rendered this attempt futile.

The young sailor shivered profusely from the excruciating cold. She soon found that hanging onto the boom was becoming very difficult.

Ariah then remembered Captain Amelia's order. She looked down the length of the boom; one chord halted the solar sail from fully fanning out.

Without the needed solar energy that the captain demanded; they all would be doomed.

Ariah reached forwards with one goose bump-covered hand and shakily pulled at the chord's knot with her numb fingers. The solar sail instantly fanned out the moment Ariah released the knot.

The young sailor readjusted her grip on the wooden boom; still shivering intensely from the cold. Ariah squeezed her copper-brown eyes shut from the black hole's energy waves that continued to barrage her.

* * *

The wooden boom swung uneasily to and from the RLS Legacy's starboard side, always _just_ out of reach when it came close to the railing.

"Hold onto your lifelines, gents. It's going to be a bumpy ride!" Captain Amelia's voice cried out to all of the sailors.

Ariah buried her face into her arms. She used the last of her strength to keep her grip by digging her fingernails deep into the wood of the boom.

Darkness washed over the RLS Legacy as it plunged deeper towards the infinite gloom of the black hole. There was an eerie silence.

* * *

One last blast of immense energy burst forth from the black hole, engulfing the limp solar sails with new power and energizing the tall ship's thrusters. The RLS Legacy fired away from the collapsed black hole at top speed.

They had made it… cheers from the RLS Legacy echoed through the Etherium for their well-respected captain.

* * *

Ariah looked up from her arms; the unbearable cold enveloped her body. She could feel hypothermia slowly shut down the use and feeling of her dangling legs. Soon enough it would shut down the use of her arms and she would fall from the boom.

Another fleeting thought, that questioned if this was her chance demise, passed the young female's terrified mind. But there was no laser pistol in her back trousers' pocket to save her now. If Ariah had gone missing, only those who had seen her on deck after her escape from the brig would know of her disappearance.

She wondered if they would look for her body. She wondered, how they would feel about her death. Would they mourn? Or would they leave her forgotten in the Etherium to rot like all of the lost sailors of ages past?

The sailor hoped that her final resting place –assuming that her dead body would ever crash-land onto a planet after drifting along the Etherium- would be somewhere among the space whales' normal migration route.

At least those majestic beings cast some visions of awe in the minds of any sailors…

* * *

The nearly frozen girl looked up at the boom weakly. The triangular shimmering solar sail was now filled with revitalized energy and waved to and fro in the solar winds.

The Etherium's solar winds were slowly turning back to their regularly warm temperatures. By the time the solar winds thawed out Ariah's body, it would be too late for her to regain enough strength to return to the RLS Legacy's polished deck, because she would've already frozen past revival.

Ariah stopped shivering; her body hadn't enough energy to produce the movement. She slowly exhaled puffs of condensed vapour.

_Out of the fire and into the freezer_, one would say... the metaphor would've been all too funny to Ariah had it not been referring to her current state. She opened her now-purple lips trying to utter any word for help, but she was quite literally too cold.

* * *

Abruptly, and without warning, the boom swung around to the starboard side of the RLS Legacy. The backs of Ariah's legs smacked against the starboard railing of the tall ship and she limply slipped off of the wooden boom.

The exhausted sailor fell unceremoniously onto the main deck back first; right in front of the captain and crew that had grouped around the ship's helm.

Shouts of surprise followed her drop onto the deck:

"What the devil?"

"Miss Clarke?"

"By Flint's name!"

"Ariah!"

Ariah closed her copper-brown eyes and let darkness cloak her vision. It seemed that someone, or something out there had heard her mental plea for aid…

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks to Whisperwings as usual for doing an excellent job of betaing!

To Readers: Sorry this chapter took SO long to update... it's not writing it that takes so long, it's revising and proofreading it! (But thanks so much for the lovely reviews)

**MG#6**


	19. Recovering

**Author's Note:**

Woh. I just write the entire black hole sequence in one chapter. Hmm…

* * *

**Chapter 19: Recovering**

"How in the Etherium did she even…?"

Their conversation was chopped and partially muffled as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

"I speculate that her exposure to the cold of space could…"

How long had she been out? And when would she wake up?

"I still can't believe…"

Would she wake up?

"Stay here, you're to…"

Maybe.

"Just…"

But then again, it was as equal a chance for her not to wake up.

"Immediately…"

* * *

Silence; the stifled conversation halted with the echoing slam of a wooden door.

Warmth; something soft was being pressed against her forehead.

Sweetness; what in Captain Nathaniel Flint's name was that delicious scent?

Copper; blood was leaking onto her taste buds from her cracked lips.

Scroop?

Ariah blinked a couple of times as she adjusted to her new environment. She tried to move, but a thick layer of blankets bound her tired limbs together. She was lying on her side on a comfortable surface; it felt like a mattress of sorts.

A nauseous feeling suddenly swept over her body and she coughed out the pool of blood that had formed in the back of her throat.

Once her coughing fit had ended, a cool glass of sweet-scented liquid was pressed against Ariah's cracked lips.

From curiosity, she used much of her strength to sit up just so she could figure out what the liquid was. She obtained her prize, discovering that it was purp juice mixed with some sort of recovery tonic.

Ariah finished off the glass and winced at the bitter aftertaste that the recovery tonic had given to the usually sweet purp juice.

Slowly, she gained more strength in her arms and could remove them from her blanket cocoon. Ariah propped up her body on her elbows and leaned against a wall behind her.

* * *

After shaking away her dizziness she began to fully identify where she was…

The recovering teenager was covered from toes to shoulders in thick, plain-looking blankets. The wall she leaned against was a polished maple colour, glimmering like the rest of the ship.

She had been placed in a four-poster bed, one large enough that she could stretch out both arms and yet not reach the edges, and one that extended from her feet a least one metre.

Obviously this bed was suited for someone _much_ larger than herself.

A couple of portholes fixed into one of the walls allowed the gentle starlight to filter into the room.

Ariah closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. When she exhaled she looked to the right of where she lay. There was Scroop, patiently waiting for her to recover. The crimson arachnid stood as a silent sentry at the right side of the bed.

An empty glass, a bowl filled with steaming water and a soaked towel rested on a maple bedside table.

Ariah looked down at herself, finally noticing a sharp pain in her rib cage –likely from cracked ribs- and a thick layer of bandages around her right forearm.

"We were wondering how you got that." Scroop stated. He eyed her arm suspiciously.

Ariah read Scroop's expression. "You don't think _I_ would do this to myself…" She stated in her own defence. "Do you?" She nervously added.

Scroop rolled his golden eyes. "Exactly what was it that caused that?" He demanded.

"Um…" Ariah thought back to the day she was in the brig, much of the memory was fuzzy now. "It was a hurricane lamp, the glass from it anyways." She shrugged. "It must've fallen off of its bracket when the ship jolted and it smashed against the bars of my cell's door." Ariah cleared her throat and furrowed her brow in thought. "Exactly _where_ am I?" She raised an eyebrow at the arachnid beside her.

"You're in the late Mister Arrow's room." Scroop answered bluntly.

"The _late_?" Ariah looked up glumly into the arachnid's golden eyes.

Scroop cleared his throat and picked up the items from the bedside table, turning away from Ariah as he prepared to leave the room. "His lifeline wasn't secured properly." The crimson alien stated.

Ariah's copper-brown eyes widened in surprise as she watched Mister Scroop exited the room and close the door behind him.

Mister Arrow was dead? And here she was lying in the bed that was once his… An eerie chill ran down Ariah's spine as she eased herself out from under the heavy sheets.

* * *

There was a minute tap at the door to Mister Arrow's room shortly after Scroop had left.

"Come in." Ariah stated.

A tiny pink blob squirmed its way through a gap between the door and its frame before the person the other side could fully open it. Morph squealed happily when he saw Ariah and he hurried over to the bedridden sailor.

Unable to control his own speed, Morph's light pink, gelatinous body splattered against Ariah's pale cheek before he could stop himself. Ariah giggled softly at the transformer's antics and she gently shook Morph off of her face.

"Ariah?" A hushed, familiar voice called into the room.

"Jim?" Ariah's copper-brown eyes lightened up at the sound of the cabin boy's voice.

The cabin boy in question silently slipped into the room, closing the wooden door behind him completely. Ariah smiled warmly and pushed the blankets under her legs. She gently patted the top of the sheets, inviting Jim to join her.

"Um…" Jim rubbed the back of his neck instinctively from unease.

The brunette cabin boy walked over to the huge bed and sat down beside Ariah on top of the thick covers.

He looked into her eyes. "How are you feeling, Ariah?"

Ariah smiled sincerely. "Much better." She noticed the troubled look in Jim's pale blue eyes and she tilted her head to one side. "What's wrong, Jim?" She enquired curiously.

"I was just…" Jim looked away and bit his bottom lip. "Well." He sighed. "I was really worried about you." He fiddled bashfully with his thumbs. "You were out for three days."

"Three days?" Ariah exclaimed, surprised at the amount of recovery time.

"Well," Jim cleared his throat. "Doctor Doppler assumed that, because you were exposed to space for so long…" Jim stated uneasily. He paused and sighed. "Maybe you wouldn't recover." The young man smoothed a hand thorough his brunette bangs. "Anyways, no need to worry now." He smiled weakly. Then something dawned on him. "Oh. The captain said that you don't have to go back into the brig once you've fully recovered."

"I don't?" Ariah raised an eyebrow.

"Well…" Jim shrugged. "Your rank _has_ been pulled."

"Oh." Ariah exhaled, slightly crest-fallen.

"But you won't have to go into the brig…" Jim pointed out. After saying this he smirked vaguely. "Unless of course you do something that's against the rules. Again."

Ariah smiled. "I guess that's a fair deal." She cleared her throat. "So, what rank have I been assigned to?"

"Scullery maid." Jim stated bluntly.

Ariah shrugged. "I'm used to that." Suddenly her stomach growled in hunger.

Jim chuckled. "I guess after three days of sleeping you're probably hungry." He smiled genuinely. "Do you want me to get you something from the galley or are you strong enough to walk there?" He enquired.

"I should be strong enough…" Ariah stated. She pushed herself fully from under the heavy covers and gently stepped out of the bed.

* * *

The black-haired teenager slowly eased her body's weight onto her wobbling legs, trying to get accustomed to using them after three days of sleep.

Ariah straightened up her posture confidently and walked around a bit. She turned and smiled nonchalantly at Jim.

"No big deal…" She stated with a careless laugh.

Jim smirked back with an eyebrow raised suggestively.

Ariah grinned mischievously. "Or would you prefer something a bit more _femme fatale_?"

The young teenager lifted the back of her hand to press her forehead melodramatically, as if she were going to faint on the spot.

"Oh dear, Mister Hawkins." She said in a polite accent, similar to Captain Amelia's, winking at the cabin boy playfully.

Jim and Morph strained to hold back their laughter and keep straight faces.

Ariah continued with her damsel in distress skit. "I don't believe…" The overdramatic girl rolled her copper-brown eyes up slightly as if praying to a high entity. "I have the strength…" Ariah winged a bit. "To… go… on." She made fake choking noises before falling backwards onto the large bed right beside Jim.

The would-be actress lay atop the covers limply for a few moments before she cracked up and began laughing aloud. Jim and Morph joined in with her laughter soon after the little performance.

* * *

The two young teenagers were clutching their stomachs and laughing so hard that tears were forming in their eyes. Finally their laughs calmed down to a few stifled giggles.

Jim lay down on his side and looked back at Ariah, who lay down staring up at the ceiling of Mister Arrow's room.

Their eyes met and they smiled at each other happily. Jim leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on Ariah's cheek. Ariah closed her copper-brown eyes and inhaled slowly as Jim's lips left her face.

Never in her life had there been a more –dare she think it- _perfect_ moment…

* * *

Blam! Blam! Blam! A strong fist hammered against the wooden door.

"Jimbo!" Silver's gruff voice hollered from the other side of the door. "Yer needed in the galley…" The cook ordered. "An' I mean now!"

Perfect moment: ruined…

* * *

Ariah opened her copper-brown eyes irately and looked up into Jim's pale blue eyes. He shrugged and they both sat up.

Jim slipped past Ariah, ignoring Morph's accurate mimicking of Silver's demands, and gave the recovered sailor a weak grin. Ariah sighed and finally got to her feet.

She pushed the blankets back into place, gently smoothing out the creases on the former first mate's bed, and then she brushed past Jim and reached for the doorknob.

* * *

The rejuvenated female reached forwards; opened the door and then looked up sheepishly at John Silver.

Silver smiled widely. "Oh so _now_ yer awake, darling…" He chuckled lightly at the only female teenager in his crew.

Ariah looked up at the older sailor and smiled weakly. Then she stepped from the doorway and into the corridor. Jim and Morph exited the room soon afterwards.

Morph instantaneously zoomed over to Silver to snuggle his portly cheek. Jim half-heartedly elbowed the door closed and looked up at the RLS Legacy's cook.

"Well now." Silver placed his hands on his hips and loomed over the two teenagers. He looked at each of them in turn. "I don't suppose I was _interrupting_ anythin'…" He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Was I?"

Jim said; "No…" the same time when Ariah said; "Yes..."

The two teenagers glanced at each other in confusion, trying to make up their minds.

Then Ariah said; "No…" the same time that Jim said; "Yes..."

"Didn't think so…" Silver smirked all-knowingly at the two teenagers.

"So…" Ariah smiled softly and tilted her head to the side. "Did I miss anything?" She enquired.

"Yeh didn't _personally_ miss anythin', Sleepin' Beauty…" Silver rolled his eyes as-a-matter-of-factly. "…But I can tell that the crew missed yeh, lass."

"Including you?" Ariah raised an eyebrow.

"Including me, darling." Silver chuckled. He placed his human hand on Ariah's bare shoulder. "Yeh gave us all quite the scare, darling." He admitted with concerned eyes.

"Yeah…" Jim added. "We were worried that you weren't going to wake up."

"I'm sorry…" Ariah blinked her copper-brown eyes innocently with an identical smile.

Silver chuckled, shaking his head and sighing at the female adolescent's typical behaviour. "Now on with yeh… the dishes in the galley aren't going teh clean up themselves."

Ariah's stomach growled at the mere mention of _'the galley'_. She put on a pouting face and looked up at Silver with large, pleading eyes; similar to what Morph did often when requiring something.

Silver chuckled heartily. "Of course we'll get somethin' for the little _lady_ first." He patted Ariah lightly on the shoulder.

Ariah smiled cheekily at Jim, who rolled his pale blue eyes at her, and then they all walked towards the galley.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks as per usual to Whisperwings for her phenomenal betaing work.

**MG#6**


	20. Welcome Back

**Author's Note:**

And now for the twentieth chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 20: Welcome Back…**

Ariah, Jim, Morph and Silver entered the RLS Legacy's galley. A thick steam of delicious-smelling food humoured the air, as well as the loud buzz of conversation drifting about the crewmembers.

Suddenly, the talking in the galley halted, which caused Ariah to look up at the other sailors curiously. The entire crew was staring quizzically at her.

Ariah folded her arms over her chest. It was either her sudden appearance after so many days of being unconscious or the thick layer of bandages that spanned her right arm and her torso –now revealed by her unlaced vest- that had caught their attention.

"What?" The black-haired teenager demanded irately.

"Scullery Maid." The crew mechanically answered.

Ariah rolled her eyes; apparently word of her pulled rank had travelled quickly. She wordlessly trekked over to the cauldron of stew and served herself a portion of the steaming lunch. Then the recovered sailor sat down at her usual table beside Jim and began eating.

* * *

Morph zipped over with an entire mouthful of food. He looked at both teenagers and smiled widely with his already bulging cheeks.

Ariah cocked an eyebrow at the pink gelatinous transformer before silently eating her serving of lunch.

The light pink blob loudly gulped his mouthful of food and then floated to the space between Jim and Ariah's plates. Morph split himself into two pieces and made each form into a tiny mirror image of Jim and Ariah.

The miniature forms of Ariah and Jim stood at the edge of their original form's plate.

The tiny teenagers waved friendlily at each other and then walked out into the thin air between the plates.

The two original teenagers each raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

* * *

Mini Jim bowed formally to Mini Ariah. Then the baggy clothes -that Jim usually wore- shimmered slightly and it morphed into a black, formal-looking suit. Mini Ariah curtseyed to Mini Jim. Her sailing attire shimmered identically and then shifted into a lengthy, dark red evening gown.

Ariah blinked, surprised how dashingly handsome Jim looked in the suit; even if it was only a miniature version of him. She could tell by Jim's wide pale blue eyes that he was likely thinking the similar thing about her mirror image.

Mini Jim and Mini Ariah took each other's hands in an appropriate waltz formation and step closer. Mini Ariah placed her left hand on Mini Jim's shoulder and Mini Jim placed his right hand at Mini Ariah's waist, their other hands clasped together gracefully and they looked each other in the eyes. Then they spun around elegantly in a circular dance through the empty air between their original form's plates.

* * *

"Not puttin' fantasies into me workers' heads, now are yeh, Morphy?" Silver's chuckling voice broke through the two teenagers' thoughts.

Mini Ariah and Mini Jim shifted back into Morph's original appearance. The transformer giggled jovially, despite being caught, and zoomed over to the older cyborg.

Ariah looked up at John Silver with a confused look, which was mirrored identically on Jim's face. Silver chuckled knowingly and collected some of the abandoned dishes from the crew's emptied tables.

The two teenagers shrugged at each other and then began their assigned work as cabin boy and scullery maid. They filled the appropriate bins with warm sudsy water and grabbed their own towels to wash dishes.

* * *

After an hour of taking care of the monotonous task -as Silver's supervision halted any chances of _'testing each other's reflexes'_ once again- Jim and Ariah had finally finished washing up lunch's dishes.

The afternoon passed by rapidly as the two teenagers worked together on their cleaning duties keeping the RLS Legacy in its consisting top shape.

The two teenagers helped Silver prepare, serve and wash up dinner before they sunk into their own hammocks for a good night's sleep.

* * *

Among all of the things that Ariah despised in her life, nightmares were up near the top of her list. The unfamiliar pattern of sleep over the three days she had been unconscious must've caused her normal dream cycle to be thrown off; thus creating a nightmare that she'd distinctly remember.

But why, of all things, did it have to be a nightmare? Usually dreams that were confusing and made no sense, or dreams that triggered possible ideas for future inventions were much more pleasant…

However, tonight's nightmare was one that jarred her awake in cold sweat.

Ariah hated the nightmares where she was getting chased by monsters… Especially when they were the similar leviathans that she had to personally face at some point in her past.

But this was worse, because her friends were with her… and they weren't as fast runners as she was. One by one, as she ran, the dark fiends swallowed up her friends. She tried to stop herself, to turn around and try to help them, but an unknown force kept her running.

Once the force stopped pulling her forwards; Ariah stopped running. Before she could turn around to help her disappearing friends, she felt herself falling.

She fell through the empty air; it was overwhelmingly cold. The bitterly frigid darkness began to suffocate her. She was drowning in the darkness.

Finally the nightmare ended and Ariah opened her copper-brown eyes. She felt her hammock's fabric between her fingers and realized she was holding the material in a death grip. Her entire body was soaked in cold sweat and her breath came out in ragged pants. She looked around, hoping dearly that she hadn't cried out during her nightmare.

The young woman remembered the few times when she was younger and the crew had heard her cry out while having a nightmare… When she had finally woken up, they would all be staring at her oddly, and for a few days following the nightmare they would treat her more gently. She disliked this, as it made her feel weak and vulnerable…

But the crew's quarters remained dark from the night and the crew was still sleeping peacefully, undisturbed. Ariah sighed and smoothed the sweat from her forehead.

She hopped barefoot out of her hammock and walked out of the crew's quarters up onto the main deck.

* * *

The sweat along Ariah's bare arms dried off in the chilly breeze on the main deck. She walked to the bow of the RLS Legacy. She knew at least someone had to be on watch while the RLS Legacy was anchored from the night; who would hopefully give her some company.

The RLS Legacy was anchored down during the night for longer periods of time as there were only three people permitted to steer the vessel Mister Turnbuckle, Mister Arrow and Captain Amelia. As Mister Arrow was forever lost the farthest reaches of outer space, these periods of time lengthened, to allow Mister Turnbuckle and Captain Amelia a sufficient amount of time to rest.

The tall ship swayed gently in the Etherium's winds as Ariah made her way to the bow of the ship. Watching the bow of the ship, casually, was John Silver himself. He smoked a short pipe and leaned his cyborg arm against the polished railing.

"Hey Silver…" Ariah stood to the older sailor's left side.

"What are yeh doin' up so late, darling?" Silver asked, looking over Ariah.

Ariah sighed and looked blankly out into space. "I had a nightmare…" She frowned and placed her chin against her forearms miserably.

"Do yeh want teh talk 'bout it?" Silver placed his human hand against Ariah's right shoulder.

"There's not much to talk about." Ariah glanced at Silver's hand and then looked forwards. "I don't really remember much of it." She sighed and bit her bottom lip. "Only that I was drowning… and I was really scared." Ariah gulped and glanced back at Silver.

"I'm sorry teh hear that lass…" Silver patted Ariah's shoulder. "But yeh 'ave no need teh worry." He smiled down at the black-haired girl. "There's nothing out 'ere that yeh 'ave teh be scared of."

* * *

Ariah nodded, turned toward Silver and gave him a hug. The rotund cook smiled and patted her gently on the head.

The young girl buried her face into Silver's ivory-shirted chest and she let out a tiny whimper. The old cyborg then realized that Ariah was crying. It must have been quite the nightmare…

"It's alright Ariah." He whispered tenderly. "Yeh don't have teh be scared…" He wrapped his arms around the fragile teenager.

The two strong-willed sailors stood at the bow of the RLS Legacy. Ariah shook slightly from the sobs of fear slipping uncontrollably from her lips. John Silver kept his arms wrapped protectively around the frightened girl.

* * *

Ariah sighed finally and looked up at Silver. "I'm sorry." She cleared her throat. "I don't really know what came over me…" There was an uncharacteristic blush across her face.

"It's all right, Ariah." Silver smiled knowingly. He allowed the slightly embarrassed teenager slip out of his arms so she could regain a bit of her dignity.

Ariah turned away and wiped the remaining tears from her copper-brown eyes. She sighed and looked out upon the night sky.

"I don't know. I guess it's not only the nightmare." Ariah stated. She smoothed the back of her hand across her forehead. "When I was out there…" The young sailor looked to the Etherium distantly. "I thought I was going to die, and it scared me." Ariah cleared her throat. "But anyways…" She inhaled slowly and then exhaled. The scullery maid turned to face Silver. "I've got to be strong, right?" Ariah smiled up at Silver.

"That's right, darling…" Silver smiled down at Ariah. "But it's all right, Ariah." He patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Yeh can talk teh me 'bout anythin'…"

"Anything?"

"That's right, darling… anythin'." Silver cleared his throat. "Now on with yeh." He gently guided her back towards the lower decks before she could think of something unpleasant to talk about that was under the category of _anything_. "Yeh still need some shut-eye." The cyborg stated.

Ariah smiled softly. "Because I haven't _already_ gotten enough hours of sleep over the last three days." She rolled her eyes.

Silver responded with a flat look.

"Fine…" Ariah forced a disappointed sighed. "We can have _the talk_ -you know-about the mechanics of a man and woman's love joining together in the beauty of sexual intercourse, later…" She smirked impishly as she turned away.

The female teenager glanced back at John Silver, who had an utterly stunned look on his face and was completely lost for words.

Ariah cracked up, stifling a laugh. "I'm just kidding, Silver…" She shook her head. "You know I wouldn't do that to you…" The young woman then obeyed the cyborg's previous wishes and walked back down to the crew's quarters while silently giggling at the completely shocked expression on Silver's face. It was definitely worth it.

* * *

The morning came soon after Ariah's talk with John Silver, and the aforementioned scullery maid and Jim were allowed the entire morning for some free time before they were sent to work immediately after eating their portions of lunch.

Unfortunately, any thoughts of testing her inventions during the allotted free time had slipped Ariah's mind, up until she was assigned to some work.

They finished up the day's dishes quickly and then Silver wordlessly handed his teenage workers their tools for swabbing the deck; the now famous Mr Mop, Mrs Bucket, another closely-related-to-Mrs-Bucket bucket, and the nameless scrub brush.

The two teenagers then left the galley and mess hall to the upper deck, where warm afternoon starlight shone brightly.

* * *

_'There's nothing wrong with Ariah being happy.'_ Scroop pondered to himself as he watched the black-haired scullery maid push sudsy water across the helm of the ship with her scrub brush. _'It's simply wrong when she's happy with **him**.'_

Jim accompanied Ariah at the helm of the ship, pushing his own puddle of bubbly water around with the infamous Mr Mop and stealing glances at Ariah.

When Ariah caught Jim staring, they would both laugh. Sometimes she would flick a bit of water at him and then they would continue their conjoined labour.

Scroop silently crept down the mainmast of the tall ship. He swiftly dodged some swinging solar sail booms and weaved skilfully through the riggings.

He landed lightly on the tips of his eight pointed feet before clicking towards the entrance to the galley. He and Silver needed to talk. Immediately…

* * *

"Why Mister Scroop…" Silver greeted the arachnid cheerfully. "What brings yeh down _'ere_?" He raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Things are different than usual, Silver." Scroop hissed quietly. "We need to talk." He stated in his most serious voice. "_Privately_." He added with narrowed golden eyes.

Silver sighed. "The longboats' dock house." He stated to the red and black alien.

Scroop nodded and clicked out of the galley towards the lower decks.

Silver untied his apron from his waist and hung it up on its appropriate hook. Then the cyborg grasped his leather jacket from its hook and pulled it on before leaving the galley to accompany the arachnid.

* * *

"Hmm…" Jim leaned against the helm's railing. "I wonder where Silver and Spider Psycho are going…" He thought aloud.

"Huh?" Ariah looked up from her puddle of bubbles and pushed back the sleeves of her ivory peasant top. She glanced up at Jim quizzically.

"Well, they just went below deck." Jim stated. "Think we should check it out?" He raised an eyebrow at Ariah.

"It's probably just a coincidence, Jim." Ariah pushed the scrub brush and spread out her puddle of sudsy water. "Besides, I'm sure that Silver can easily take on Mister Scroop if he tries anything; you've seen that yourself." She shrugged and looked down at her reflection in the puddle. "And any way;" The female worker cleared her throat. "**We've** got a job to do."

"Yeah…" Jim sighed reluctantly and then continued spreading the edges of his puddle.

* * *

Morph sluggishly floated through the summer-warm air, slightly above the surfaces of the two puddles.

Occasionally, he would morph into a smaller scrub brush or mop to help out the teenagers with their work.

However, it was more often that he would morph into the dancing duo of Mini Ariah and Mini Jim, and then waltz across the helm of the ship to entertain the two workers.

* * *

"By the way." Jim looked at Ariah. "How come you don't seem so angry at Spider Psycho for getting you in the brig?"

Ariah sighed and looked up at Jim. "You're just _full_ of questions Jim." She rolled her copper-brown eyes and continued her work. "I'm not mad a Scroop for getting me locked into the brig. One: because I am no longer in the brig, two: because he's my best friend, and three: because I would be putting too much energy into being mad at him when there's really no point to it." The young teenager cleared her throat. "Also because it's _my_ fault _I_ got sent to the brig because _I_ neglected to give Silver back his laser pistol after our trip to Gyrogga." She explained.

"But…" Jim looked down at Ariah with concern. "If you didn't have the laser pistol, then Spider Psycho would've _killed_ you."

"Maybe…" Ariah shrugged. "I'm not really sure what Scroop is capable of doing when he gets _that_ angry, now that I think about it." She faced Jim directly. "I guess it's because I've never _seen_ him that angry ever before."

There was an awkward pause between the two workers as they finished up polishing the helm of the RLS Legacy.

"_Why_ was he that angry at you?" Jim demanded.

Ariah stopped scrubbing and thought for a moment. "It was because of _us_…" She stated plainly. Ariah gripped the scrub brush nervously, remembering the intense fury behind Scroop's golden eyes, and she looked up at Jim. "I think he's jealous of you, Jim…"

"Jealous?" Jim's jaw slackened in shock. "Of _me_?" He looked around the helm for any sign of the aforementioned arachnid, and then looked back at Ariah. "Why in the Etherium, would he be jealous of me?" The brunette teenager whispered feverishly to the black-haired teenager.

"Jim…" Ariah's serious and collected voice stopped Jim short.

She looked up at the RLS Legacy's cabin boy with eyes that showed that she'd thought this through before.

"I think Scroop cares for me... more than a friend." She stated gravely.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks a bunch to Whisperwings for editing and to you readers for the lovely reviews!

(A belated Happy Easter to those who celebrate it...)

**MG#6**


	21. The Shocking Truth

**Author's Note:**

Wow that was a pretty great chapter (but then again, _I'm_ biased) hee…hee… anyways, on with the story!

* * *

**Chapter 21: The Shocking Truth**

Jim gapped at Ariah as if she had said a foul word. "He…" Jim blinked bewilderedly, trying to form some understandable words. "He, _likes_ you?"

Ariah looked on the verge of tears. "I think so." She bit down on her bottom lip and fought back her mortification.

Jim stared blankly at Ariah, as if not really seeing her. How could it be?

"Jim…" Ariah looked up at Jim with a pleading expression. "Say something." She shuddered with the sudden need to confide in Jim. "Please."

Morph glanced innocently from one teenager to the other. His guiltless mind couldn't really piece together the dilemma. But the tiny transformer could tell that something was indeed troubling both Jim and Ariah, which in turn was troubling to him.

The stunned cabin boy shook his head sorrowfully. "I… just don't know _what_ to say, Ariah…" Jim admitted and then let out a long sigh. "I can't believe it…" He murmured.

Ariah turned away, breaking the stare down and continuing her assigned work. Her copper-brown eyes were glassy from the tears they yielded.

Jim sheepishly continued his work; avoiding eye contact with anything other than his own miserable reflection in the sudsy puddles.

* * *

"So what is it yeh need teh talk 'bout, Scroop?" Silver leaned casually against one of the walls of the dock house.

"I need you to separate Ariah and Cabin Boy…" Scroop stated directly.

"An' why should I do that?" Silver folded his arms over his chest and he raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the crimson alien. "They both get their work done more quickly together, an' they're both in one place so we don't have teh worry 'bout them figurin' out that we're pirates…" He pointed out with a raised finger.

Scroop frowned dangerously. "You're letting her get too close again, Silver." The arachnid hissed. "Just like last time."

"Are yeh _implying_ that Jimbo's goin' teh cheat on Ariah?" Silver chuckled mockingly. "I highly doubt that, Mister Scroop…" He shook his head.

Scroop stood to his full height, his facial expression hardened. "You're making the same mistakes again, Silver." He growled dangerously. "She'll get hurt again."

There was a silence between the two sailors.

The angered arachnid turned his back to the older sailor. "_Don't_ forget that we've kept Ariah clueless for this long," Scroop hissed. "And _don't_ forget that we still have to plan not only something that blinds her from the truth, but also the mutiny itself."

Scroop glared at Silver over his shoulder with narrowed golden eyes.

"How's Ariah going to react when the crew tears apart her boyfriend, limb from limb while she's _coincidentally_ out of the way?" Scroop snapped.

Finally, Scroop turned fully away from the older pirate and left the dock house; leaving John Silver with his thoughts.

* * *

Ariah and Jim silently placed away their cleaning tools in the galley after scrubbing and swabbing the deck until the wood gleamed miraculously.

There was an uneasy air between them from their previous discussion.

"Ariah, Jimbo…" Silver's familiar voice called to them as the sailor in question entered the galley from the main deck.

"We're in here." Jim called emptily across the mess hall.

"Good." Silver walked over to the two teenagers. "Ariah, yer teh scrape the barnacles off of the hull." He held out a metallic scraper, a utensil that would've usually been used to flip pancakes. "Start at the bow..."

"_'An' work me way teh the stern, 'til those suckers are off the hull.'_" Ariah finished the order she had heard Silver repeat many times as a sailor, while casually snatching the scraper/flipper from the cyborg's hand. "Not a problem."

The galley seemed to be _extra_ stuffy any way…

"Morphy…" Silver commanded to the pink blob. "Yeh help Ariah." He stated.

"Aye-Aye." Morph saluted loyally to the cook and then zipped out of the mess hall to aid the scullery maid.

"What about me?" Jim enquired with a raised eyebrow.

* * *

Silver's cyborg arm spun around and a carving knife popped out of it. It spun in the air a few times before Silver caught it expertly and gave it –handle first- to Jim.

"We're peeling yuppi for dinner." The older cook stated blandly.

Jim sighed and dragged himself to the arrangement of fruit and vegetable barrels in the galley. He glanced down a half-full purp barrel and then located the quarter-empty barrel of yuppi beside it. The young cabin boy seated himself between the two barrels on a stool and began his work.

Silver slowly sat down beside Jim and gently plucked a radish-shaped yuppa from the top of the barrel with his human hand. His cyborg hand delicately whirled around it, carving the thick yellow skin from the vegetable.

Jim slowly worked away at his own yuppa with the carving knife. His mind seemed to be far from the interior of the galley.

"Jimbo…" Silver looked at the younger man beside him. "I've been meanin' teh ask yeh somethin'…" He simultaneously placed the shaved yuppa into a metal bowl that sat between them.

"Ask away." Jim glanced up momentarily from his half-peeled yuppa.

Silver snatched another yellow yuppa from its barrel and continued working. "Yer _relationship_ with Ariah… how's that goin'?"

"Sheesh…" Jim rolled his pale blue eyes. "You're pretty protective of her, aren't you?"

"I'm just bein' careful for her sake, Jimbo." Silver put up his organic hand defensively while his mechanical hand simultaneously worked away at peeling the yuppa.

Jim shrugged. "I guess it's going pretty smoothly." He carefully carved off the last bit of yellow skin from the vegetable. "I don't know… but." The brunette teenager dropped the carved yuppa in the metal bowl. "I think I might love her, Silver." He quickly grabbed another yuppa and focused his attention to slicing the skin off of it.

Silver raised an eyebrow, keeping mind of his cyborg arm's functions so he wouldn't drop the yuppa he was peeling in surprise.

"Is that so?" He stated level-headedly, placing the shaved yuppa into the metal bowl.

"Look." Jim sighed nonchalantly. "Just drop it, alright?" He frowned. "I mean… it's nothing, really."

"Now just wait one t'underin' moment there, Jimbo." Silver stood suddenly from his stool and pointed a finger accusingly at the young cabin boy. "Love's not a matter that's simply teh be dropped." He stated firmly.

"Oh yeah?" Jim immediately stood from his feet, challenging the cyborg.

The carving knife slipped from his fingers and clattered upon contact with the galley's wooden floor and the half-skinned yuppa hit the floor with a soft thud.

"Well…" The brunette teenager glared frankly at the cyborg cook. "Exactly how would _you_ know?" He demanded furiously. "Have _you_ ever been in love?" Jim narrowed his pale blue eyes. "'Cause I sure haven't, so I really don't know what this is and…"

Jim tried to search for some appropriate words but failed. He grumbled angrily and looked away from Silver.

"What the hell's wrong with me anyways?" Jim fumed, folding his arms over his chest and turning away from the older sailor.

Silver chuckled lightly, his temper cooling off. "Nothin' is wrong with yeh, Jimbo." He reassuringly placed his human hand on Jim's shoulder. "Yeh are just probably goin' through a rough time…"

Jim exhaled slowly, calming down the last of his anger. "I don't know what to do, Silver…" He shook his head glumly and rubbed the bridge of his nose in thought. "These kinds of feelings are a bit new to me."

The emotional teenager bit his bottom lip and slipped past Silver's comforting hand.

"And I don't want to hurt Ariah." Jim forcefully sat down on the stool and held his head in his hands miserably. "Not like that other guy…" He stated tightly. "I don't want to break her heart." The young man mumbled into his palms while shaking his head.

Silver looked at the moping teenager with concern. Obviously the young man had had quite a while to think out his feelings, however new they were to him.

"Jimbo…" Silver sighed after a moment's pause and sat down on his own stool. "Yeh just 'ave teh be careful." He stated simply.

The cook picked up another yuppa.

"Love's a delicate thing teh work with…" The mechanical blades in his arm carefully sliced the thick yellow skin from the yuppa. "Yeh don't want teh go fast or yeh'll ruin what yeh already 'ave."

Jim furrowed his brow in thought as he looked up from his hands. "So basically…"

He half-heartedly grabbed the fallen carving knife and the half-skinned yuppa. He cleaned off the yuppa with a nearby towel and looked at Silver.

"You're telling me to go _slow_ with Ariah." He raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the older sailor.

"It's just friendly advice, Jimbo." Silver shrugged, placing another shaved yuppa on the growing pile in the galley. "It wouldn't hurt teh follow it…"

Jim sighed and continued to unenthusiastically peel the yuppa.

* * *

Ariah merrily hummed the tune to her fabricated song; pausing only to wrench another round barnacle from the RLS Legacy's wooden hull. She spun carelessly from side to side on the swing-like mechanism used to access the ship's bottom.

The tips of her boots tapped against the ship's hull rhythmically, usually followed by the pop of a space barnacles' suction-like grip being tugged out of place.

Morph hovered around Ariah's shoulders and transformed into a pink space whale. The young morph hiccupped jovially from the large amount of sugary purp juice he had consumed during the day. Morph's space whale form changed colours every time he hiccupped, causing Ariah to giggle slightly.

The eighteen-year-old looked across the hull of the ship and sighed. The afternoon breeze was gorgeous. The starlight was _just_ warm enough to not be too uncomfortable. And yet… there were at _least_ one hundred more space barnacles that needed to be detached from the hull of the Legacy.

Suddenly there was an irregularity in the solar winds, causing the ship to speed up without warning.

"Woh!" Ariah quickly grasped one of the ropes of the hull-accessing swing. Her other hand clasped the barnacle scraper tightly.

The wooden swing spun around in circles rapidly as Ariah fervently waited for the disturbance to pass. Morph childishly cowered behind Ariah's shoulder.

After a few moments of jarring tremors the solar winds eased up to their regular speed and the platform slowly unravelled the twists in its ropes.

Ariah sighed with relief, glad that she hadn't been blown out into the depths of space. She double-checked that her bungee chord was secured to the outer railing of the ship, though it had become tangled with the swing's ropes. She tugged on her bungee chord a couple of times until it finally came untangled, though was still secured to the outer railing.

With a sighed of relief, Ariah looked up at the hull and smiled contently at the sight she could see. All of the space barnacles had been knocked off by the irregular solar winds.

The scullery maid slowly pulled herself upwards towards the main deck. Morph finally removed himself from his hiding place upon discovering that the chaos had stopped.

Ariah stepped off of the platform onto the main deck. She looked around, expecting a few of the sailors to have noticed the fluctuation of the solar winds.

However, most of them hadn't moved from their positions much less noticed her arrival onto the main deck or any changes in the solar winds.

The black-haired teenager furrowed her brow in thought. It was strange finding out that such _normal_ things in the life of a _normal_ sailor was actually something entirely different from another person's point of view. She had discovered the startling differences from being a prisoner in the RLS Legacy's brig and from working out at the bow.

Ariah stuffed the barnacle scraper in her back pocket and she began walking towards the mess hall. She wondered inwardly if perhaps she should try metaphorically putting herself into someone else's shoes; or perhaps, into someone's pointed feet…

* * *

Hours passed, Silver managed to keep the two teenagers preoccupied and separated with their individual tasks until dinner came around.

Silver allowed Ariah and Jim to prepare the crew's dinner together while he lumbered down to the dock house. He had a feeling that Scroop was down there, and likely wanted to talk once again. This time his mind was set…

The wooden door to the longboats' storage room creaked uneasily open as Silver pushed on it. Most of the dock house was darkened by the evening's shadows; the only sounds to be heard was the subtle settling of the ship, the soft slap of the door closing and the eerie creaks of the swinging longboats on their davits.

"So you came…" Scroop's voice echoed bluntly through the darkness. "I don't recall telling you I was here." The arachnid's voice had a slight undertone of bitterness in it.

"I 'ad a hunch yeh'd be 'ere, Scroop." Silver folded his arms over his chest; he scowled a bit. "Knew yeh'd want teh continue our earlier conversation."

Scroop's golden eyes seemed to glow through the shadows of the dock house, giving the crimson alien a more menacing appearance than usual.

"Have you come up with a plan to keep Ariah in the dark?" He hissed softly.

Silver's brow furrowed. "I was thinkin'… perhaps we should just let the lass go." He gestured with his cyborg arm a bit. "Yeh know, a clean slate an' perhaps she'd 'ave more of a future in store for her."

Scroop stepped into the dim lantern light. "So basically, you want to give her a _'happily ever after'_?" The crimson alien narrowed his eyes. "And what of Cabin Boy?"

Silver sighed. "Firstly, we need teh figure out exactly _where_ we are goin', before we can both plan the mutiny, an' figure out what teh do with the _dead_ _weight_." He narrowed his eyes determinedly. "Tonight's the first night of the thirteenth week, an' I doubt the captain would allow such a _celebration_ teh slip her mind."

"_You_ also realize that you have the thirteenth week to plan the mutiny," Scroop folded his muscular arms across his chest. "As always..."

Silver nodded. "We'll need a way teh weasel the voyage's bearings from at least one of the three people who know it; the Captain, Jim, or Doctor Doppler."

Scroop exhaled. "I'd say the doctor would be most likely." He muttered. "The fool nearly blabbed the bearings the first day he stepped onto this voyage."

"I'd say it's somewhere important." Silver rubbed his chin experimentally. "Else he'd 'ave told us when he hired us."

Scroop's mouth flattened into a frown. "Any particular ideas come to mind?"

Silver sighed. "Just some crazy dream that I 'ave been chasing for a long time."

"Flint's Trove." Scroop stated.

Silver looked up at the alien. "We'll 'ave teh see." He paused. "Spread word teh the crew of the plan; an' make sure our _dead weight_ doesn't hear 'bout it." He stated. Then the cyborg shrugged. "I doubt Ariah will think much of it, however if the others hear 'bout it… they'll suspect something."

Scroop nodded obediently then he looked John Silver hard in the eyes. "But know this, Silver…" He stated. "If you want to release Ariah into the universe -free of us dragging her down- then you're going to have to sacrifice the secrets we've kept from her. And I don't _only_ mean about us being pirates." The arachnid turned away and disappeared once more into the shadows.

"We'll see 'bout that, Mister Scroop." John Silver frowned bitterly, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "We'll just see…" Then he left the confines of the longboat's dock house to see how his two workers were coming along with dinner.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks to Whisperwings for editing! So… here are a few facts for the vegetable I made up (just because…):

-Yuppa (pl. Yuppi)-

Pronounced: You-pa (pl. You-pie)

A galactic vegetable grown commonly in shady areas and can grow in a confined shape if given the appropriate amounts of water. Shaped much like a radish with a thick yellow skin and a pale yellow edible flesh. Contains a black elliptical pit which -if ground up into a powder- is a basic ingredient for healing tonics/ointments. When eaten cooked tastes mildly tart. When eaten raw tastes very bitter. A common healing tonic, taken orally, is a ground yuppa pit usually mixed with water (or raw purp juice if the drinker wishes to slightly mask the powder's bitter taste). When in ointments, the powder of the yuppi gives off a mint-like scent.

**MG#6**


	22. Drink 'til You Drop

**Author's Note:**

Hmm… here's some more story goodness! Thanks so much for the great reviews and thanks to Whisperwings for editing with great finesse.

* * *

**Chapter 22: Drink 'til You Drop**

After dinner's conclusion, there was an unusual air of celebration in the RLS Legacy's mess hall. Barrels of alcohol were pulled from the provisions and served to the sailors by the pint. The captain herself had even joined her temporary crew in on the festivities, though she acquired a small table solely for herself.

There was mostly jeering and laughter throughout the mess hall as sailors grouped around the tables to get their share of alcoholic beverages.

Ariah silently entered the rowdy mess hall. She knew what this celebration was for… but it gave her more of a feeling of dread than of merriment.

The young scullery maid caught a snippet of conversation between the sailors of her crew who lacked cunning. Something about obtaining the _real_ _bearings_ to wherever they were voyaging to; through a means of getting Doctor Doppler drunk enough to blabber them.

Ariah chuckled softly to herself, hoping dearly that the unfortunate doctor could hold in his alcohol. The crew was always looking out to drink someone under the table for their own profit, even each other.

Though figuring out the actual whereabouts of where they were going would've been convenient; Ariah felt as if the information would not only take away from the fun of ignorance, but also would give her a feeling that her days on this particular voyage were numbered the closer they got to reaching their destination.

Ariah weaved through the crowds of sailors; being careful not to hit anyone's _drinking _arms nor spill any alcohol on her account. She eventually came up to the short wall that separated the mess hall from the galley and provided a small corridor down towards the RLS Legacy's pantry.

* * *

There was absolutely no one in the RLS Legacy's dark pantry, and for good reason… all the shelves of alcohol had been emptied.

There was a dull rumble as a few of the musically talented sailors brought out instruments and began playing the few songs they knew by memory in the mess hall.

Ariah elbowed the door behind her and climbed down the dark steps, deeper into the depths of the pantry. She ran her hand across one of the shelves on the mess hall's side of the pantry. She located a lantern and activated its solar-charged batteries, likely plugged into a power grid that was attached to one of the RLS Legacy's solar generators.

The dull lantern shone a deep amber glow across the pantry, shedding light on barrels and crates of provisions. The young woman looked around the large pantry, feeling a bit of claustrophobia rack her system; not that being in confined spaces had ever affected her before, else she wouldn't have made it this far in the sailing life.

Something was eerie about this place…

* * *

Suddenly, there was a loud smash from one of the shelves that caused Ariah to jump up in fright. She quickly snatched the lantern from its bracket and hurried towards the source of the noise.

Upon inspecting the shelves of the pantry Ariah concluded that there was nothing but a smashed pot. She sighed, frustrated at her insecurity and knelt down to observe the pot's damage.

The pot in question was a ceramic-based, the colour of clay bricks. Its contents, a series of strange marble-sized seeds, were scattered across the wooded floor of the pantry.

Ariah picked a seed up between her fingers and curiously examined it. She cautiously raised it up to her nose and sniffed it slightly.

A spicy humour entered her nostrils, but one that was pleasantly familiar. Ariah smiled, recognizing the exact spice that made Volcanic Lava Bursts one of the spiciest meals in the cosmos. She knelt down and set her lantern at her feet.

The black-haired teenager pushed aside the shards of broken ceramic, gathered up the marble-shaped seeds and located a small, empty burlap bag hanging nearby. She dropped all of the seeds into the bag, each falling with a gentle click.

Ariah hung the bag up onto on of the hooks in the pantry and then she sighed. Carefully to avoid injury, she piled up the broken pot's remains and searched for a safe place to put them. The pantry only bore stocked shelves of provisions, leaving hardly any room for anything else. Ariah sighed; her hands were full from the broken ceramic so she wouldn't be able to hold the lantern. She pondered for a moment until something dawned upon her.

"Morph." She called out over the muffled noises from the mess hall.

There was a small squeak from within the pantry as the tiny transformer entered the lantern light. Every time there was a celebration involving alcohol with the crew, Morph was always locked away, safe from the toxic drink.

Alcoholic beverages affected morphs ability to transform and too much of the substance lead to death in the young creatures. Silver had explained this to Ariah and had also locked her in small closets or pantries with Morph when she was younger. It was either her own good –as most of the time she was under-aged as far as drinking went- and also because Silver had a way of sweet-talking her into keeping Morph company.

Morph looked up at Ariah sweetly, his mouth full of food as usual. Ariah smiled down at the innocent transformer.

"Can you carry the lantern for me, Morphy?" Ariah asked.

Morph gulped down his food and nodded his head. Then the pink blob zoomed over to the lantern, chomping down on its handle with his mouth. Morph quickly flew at Ariah's eye-level, lighting the rest of the pantry.

Ariah quickly weaved through the confined pantry with her handful of broken clay-coloured ceramic. She glanced backwards at the empty pantry before using her foot to open the door and entering the noisy festivities in the mess hall.

* * *

"How's the tongue-loosening coming?" Scroop whispered discreetly to Mister Gillis –a short, rat-like alien who served as a quick messenger in Silver's crew.

Mister Gillis snickered quietly. "The doctor can hold in his alcohol…" His bright-green eyes widened at the angered look Scroop soon gave him. "Unfortunately he's drunken some of our crew under the table." The dark brown-furred alien shuddered a bit and gnawed his yellow pointed teeth against his thin lips. "Even Birdbrain Mary is starting to lose it… and she's one of the best drinkers in the crew." He tugged nervously at the edges of his sleeveless navy-blue jacket with his clawed paws.

"What about Ariah?" Scroop suggested. "She's the hardiest drinker in the crew."

Mister Gillis shivered a bit, his eyes flicked through the packed crowds. "We haven't seen her since the party started." He flinched and shoved his paws into his black trouser pockets. "Silver said that she'd likely be occupying Cabin Boy so he wouldn't get in on our case." His eyes shifted nervously.

Scroop paused. "For once her relationship with _him_ is of use to the crew." He muttered silently under his breath. The crimson arachnid looked down at the quivering rat humanoid. "If Birdbrain Mary fails then get someone else, use the entire crew if we have to pry the bearings from the doctor."

The arachnid glanced at the passing by scullery maid, who strangely was carrying a handful of broken pottery and had the ever-irritating Morph floating at her shoulder.

"Silver should be able to keep Ariah in the dark." Scroop hypothesized. "…And in turn, Ariah should be able to keep Cabin Boy in the dark. Which means that we're still safe."

The rat alien nodded. "I'll pass the message on…" Mister Gillis glanced at the black-haired teenager exiting the mess hall. "But I'm not sure how much longer Birdbrain Mary is going to last." He motioned to the nearly unconscious, female sailor across from a rather cheerful Doctor Delbert Doppler.

There were many passed out sailors littering the floor around the table and Captain Amelia seemed to have retired to her personal chambers.

"I wonder if he actually _is_ consuming the alcohol…" Gillis narrowed his bright green eyes suspiciously and his ears twitched slightly. "Or if it's some trick."

"Just do what I told you to do." Scroop hissed, turning away from the rat and disappearing into the hoards of sailors.

Mister Gillis shrugged and he crept towards the table where the drinking challenge was under way. He would likely be the next sailor in line if Birdbrain Mary failed to out-drink the doctor. This night wasn't going to end well for him…

* * *

Ariah pulled on her bungee chord harness and secured it to the side of the slightly swaying RLS Legacy. The ship had been anchored for the evening in an asteroid field, especially because the evening's festivities that would've surely impaired many of the sailors; thus making the job more dangerous than necessary.

The young scullery maid hopped up onto the railing of the ship with her handful of broken pottery and she scanned the tilting starboard side for some crater-riddled asteroids. A particularly large one resided an arm's length away from the ship and it had many deep holes that didn't go all the way through the hunk of rock.

Ariah carefully hopped onto the asteroid, balancing herself appropriately as it spun under her weight. The space matter soon halted its dipping and swerving to finally settle in the reduced solar winds. Ariah smirked and began dropping shards of the shattered pottery into the crevasses of the asteroids.

Once she had completely disposed of the ceramic, Ariah cautiously stepped back onto the RLS Legacy's starboard railing and watched the asteroid drift away. She smiled proudly and unlatched herself from her harness. The young woman then coiled the bungee chord and took her bundle of effects up into her arms.

"Morph, you should probably get back into the pantry…" Ariah stated. "Silver won't like it if he catches you near alcohol again."

Morph whimpered slightly, remembering one of the only times John Silver had ever gotten mad at him. He looked up at Ariah innocently.

"I'll be sure to get you early in the morning." She smiled. "So… we can watch the starlight on the space dust."

Morph giggled jovially at the thought and glanced at Ariah suspiciously.

"Well… if you _want_ to sit around in the crew's quarters all night with me then yes, you can join me." She smiled slightly.

Morph cheered loudly, snuggling his cool body affectionately against Ariah's cheek.

Ariah chuckled and walked down through the lower decks towards the crews' quarters.

* * *

Upon entering the dimly lit room she bumped into someone.

"Hmm." Ariah snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at the person she had collided with. She smiled warmly. "Hey Jim…"

Morph instantly zoomed from Ariah's shoulder over to Jim's and licked Jim's face like an affectionate pet would.

"Hey… knock it off, Morph." Jim pushed the pink transformer away and shook the slobber from his face.

"Why aren't you at the party?" Ariah enquired.

"Same to you." Jim folded his arms over his chest but smirked at Ariah's presence.

Ariah chuckled lightly. "Well…" Ariah slipped past Jim to placed her bungee chord and harness into her duffel bag. "I'm not really feeling up to partying tonight." She hopped into her hammock and casually turned towards the brunette cabin boy.

Jim raised an eyebrow and sat down in the hammock across from Ariah's. "What exactly _is_ the party for?" He asked faced the black-haired teenager.

Ariah shrugged. "It's all really from some sailing superstition." She stated and then sighed tiredly. "On the unluckily numbered week –that is, the thirteenth week- in any voyage –assuming that it's been on its voyage for that long- is some spiritual celebration for luck." Ariah pushed her slipping bandana back into place. "Really it _was_ all about praying… rabbit's feet… horseshoes… and stuff, but _now_ it's really one day of partying at the start of the week, and another day of partying at the end of the week; or that's how it seems." Ariah looked up into Jim's pale blue eyes. "_I've_ never actually gotten through the entire thirteenth week as a sailor."

"How come?" Jim enquired, leaning forwards with his elbows on his knees.

Ariah frowned. "Either the voyage is already planned to end before that, or something bad happens that forces it to end..."

"Like what?"

"Um… storms, and pirate invasions." Ariah huffed. "Like I said, I've never ended a thirteenth week of voyaging." She looked up at the bottom of Birdbrain Mary's hammock above her bitterly. "I guess I just don't have a sailor's good luck…" She sighed.

Jim looked over the moping teenager curiously. "But you _are_ pretty lucky as far as I can tell…" He smirked lightly.

"How's that?" Ariah looked at Jim with a raised eyebrow.

"Well…" Jim inhaled deeply. "For starters; you can cope with Spider Psycho all the time, and me too." Morph quickly transformed into his caricature of the crimson alien and pranced about in mid-air, waving around his disproportionately large pincers.

Ariah smirked minutely. "Yeah… I guess _that _makes me lucky." She stated sarcastically.

"And…" Jim waved his finger, indicating that he was to continue. "You survived a black hole and an eclipse on Winterchill. Plus one mast race… Plus two fights; one against a gang of mobsters and one against Scroop… Plus one day in the as-hot-as-hell brig... And finally, all of the crashes and malfunctions of that day we tested your solar glider."

Ariah smiled back. "That's not all…" She sat up from her hammock and faced Jim.

"What did I miss?" Jim raised an eyebrow.

Ariah chuckled. "Luck isn't just about all of the near-death situations I've avoided on this voyage, Jim." She looked into Jim's pale blue eyes and smiled warmly. "I'm very lucky to have met _you_ on this voyage."

Ariah leaned forwards and tenderly locked lips with Jim. She felt Jim's smile on her lips and she pushed herself gently from her hammock to lean against the brunette teenager.

Morph giggled at the two teenagers' romance. He transformed into a heart-shaped cloud and pierced it with an arrow, the kind that Cupid typically shoots into people's rear ends to make them fall in love.

Jim laughed lightly when their lips separated. His arms encircled Ariah's waist and he eased back in the hammock. Ariah's eyes seemed to glow in the dimmed lantern light.

"I'm glad to have been lucky enough to have met you too…" Jim beamed. Ariah smiled her widest and gently locked lips with Jim once more.

Suddenly Jim stopped sharing the embrace and Ariah looked up into Jim's pale blue eyes.

"What's wrong Jim?" She blinked.

Jim sighed and he slipped past Ariah. He smoothed his fingers through his ever-messy bangs and stood up from the hammock.

"I just think that, we might be taking this too fast…" He looked down at Ariah. "And I don't want to mess this up, Ariah."

Morph changed from his cloud image and looked at the two teenagers in confusion.

"Okay…" Ariah sighed. "So… exactly then what do we do?" She asked.

"Beats me." Jim shoved his hands into his jacket's pockets.

The two teenagers simultaneously sighed hopelessly. Morph mimicked them exactly.

"Who gave you the idea to go slow?" Ariah enquired.

"Can't I have my own ideas?" Jim snapped.

"Well yeah…" Ariah shrugged. "But it doesn't really seem like you." She stood from the hammock and gave the cabin boy a confused look. "You can talk to me…" Ariah held Jim's hand in hers. "You know that, right Jim?" She looked Jim in the eyes with concern.

"Look," Jim gently pulled his hand from Ariah's. "It's… hard to explain." Jim rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed hopelessly.

"Did Silver tell you to take this slow?" Ariah asked.

"No!" Jim shouted loudly, but the all-knowing look -that Ariah gave him- stopped him short. "Yeah…" He mumbled in defeat.

"Great!" Ariah threw her hands up in the air from frustration. "Silver is getting on my case again because he doesn't want what happened with me and Ortona to happen with you and me." She huffed and tapped her chin. "But the weird part is… he was the one who suggested me getting together with you."

"What?" Jim yelled.

"Oh come on, Jim." Ariah narrowed her eyes. "Couldn't you tell? _'I'll take a rain check'_ and _'__why don't yeh an' Jim go swab the helm'_…" She recited what Silver had said. "Stuff like that, he obviously was setting us up."

"So." Jim folded his arms over his chest. "This relationship between us is only because of Silver?" He narrowed his eyes. "…Because Silver told you to get together with me?"

"No… it's nothing like that Jim." Ariah stated. "Silver suggested to me to get to know you." She smiled weakly. "And I'm glad I took his advice."

Jim sighed, easing a hand through his bangs. "Sorry…" He looked away. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

"It's alright." Ariah patted Jim on the shoulder.

"It's just…" Jim sighed. "All my life… I've been played by people I loved, people like my father, only to be let down." Jim's knuckles whitened from tension as his hand balled up into a fist. "I am so sick of things like this happening, that I'm a bit jumpy when it comes to trusting people."

"You can trust me, Jim." Ariah stated.

"How do I know that's true?" Jim asked bitterly, he turned away. "How do I know you're not playing me?" He narrowed his eyes. "Like all of the people who _pretended_ to be my friends back on Montressor until my father abandoned me and then they left? Like how my father, who always said _'oh Jim, that's nice…' _but never even noticed that I could build a solar surfer when I was eight?" He paused. "How can I trust you, Ariah?"

The female sailor frowned, feeling sadness well up in her chest. "You… _don't_ trust me?"

"Well, we've only known each other for…" Jim stumbled around a hammock as Ariah advanced towards him with the air of anger about her. "For thirteen weeks…"

"And that length of time _isn't _long enough for you to develop a relationship in which one person trusts the other and vice versa?" She raised her voice slightly.

"It's not just that…" Jim was beginning to wish he hadn't said anything on the subject.

"I would think, that the first time we kissed -without someone forcing us to- was enough to show you that I cared for you!" Ariah stated; her eyes began to water. "That I trusted you!" Her voice cracked with emotion. "And don't get started about what's happened in the past, because **I've** been played for a fool before… you know that, Jim!"

The young morph squeaked in alarm as he saw the tears falling from Ariah's eyes, but they were tears far more complex than those of sadness.

"You just didn't get the picture, _did_ you?" Ariah seethed. "So who's playing whom, Mister Hawkins?" She grabbed the front of Jim's jacket and shook him forcefully.

"Well, what about Scroop?" Jim shoved the black-haired teenager away from him.

"What do you mean?" Ariah panted from fury and looked away. "He's just a friend…"

"Just a friend?" Jim hollered. "You said it yourself that he likes you."

"I don't know that from _him_." Ariah retorted. "I was just guessing;" She admitted. "It's not like Scroop's the kind of person you'd spontaneously bring up stuff like that."

"Oh really?" Jim advanced towards the scullery maid. "And what type of person is Scroop anyways, because I'm _interested_ in what you've learnt over all of the years you've known him…" He seethed.

"I only like him as a friend!" Ariah screamed loudly.

"Have _you_ ever told him that?" Jim shouted. "Have you ever told him that his feelings for you are pointless because he's only a friend to you?" The young man growled. "Huh?"

Ariah balled up her hand into a fist, and was tempted to do something against every fibre in her being. "Just- just get out..." She snapped angrily, turning away before she could strike the brunette teenager.

Jim scoffed. "Fine." He said shortly, turning away and leaving the crew's quarters.

The miserable scullery maid clenched and unclenched her hands until she felt her legs become gelatinous. Ariah fell to her knees, her right arm curled around her now aching stomach and her left hand came up to her face. Some sobs shook her body as she allowed herself to cry. The tiny transformer looked upon her sadly; his mouth trembled.

"What have I done?" Ariah sobbed tearfully into her hand.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Wow… Chapter twenty-two's finished already. And the story is _slowly_ drawing to an end. (Sigh) But no worries; check my profile and get some information that I hope will please you!

**MG#6**


	23. Go After Him

**Author's Note:**

Well… that last chapter kind of ended on a sad note.

* * *

**Chapter 23: Go After Him**

John Silver lumbered about the mess hall, often having to sit down from a recurring stiffness in his cyborg leg. He spoke quietly to his crew, wondering if they had yet figured out the voyage's bearings.

Thus far Doctor Delbert Doppler had out-drunken Birdbrain Mary, Mr Hands, Mr Gillis, and four more of the sailing crew. The very cheerful doctor was now in the process of out-drinking Onus, the crew's lookout.

Silver grumbled audibly, wondering if this was all really worth the trouble.

Suddenly from the corner of his eye he spotted Morph. The tiny transformer looked around the mess hall, zooming from head to head until he located the RLS Legacy's cook and flew to him.

"Morphy…" Silver started with an undertone of anger in his voice. "Yeh know yeh can't be outta the pantry."

Morph interrupted the older sailor, immediately shifting into Mini Ariah and illustrating her sadness.

Silver's eyes widened. "Yeh sure, Morphy?" He asked quietly.

Morph shifted back into his regular form and nodded, his eyes were wide with concern.

Silver glanced suspiciously at Jim.

The young man had recently entered the mess hall, poured himself a pint of alcohol, and sat down at the nearest table. There was an uncharacteristic air of bitterness surrounding the brunette teenager, and Silver had sense it to be a bad mood.

Silver lifted himself from the bench he was sitting at. The older sailor steadfastly followed Morph out of the noisy mess hall.

Perhaps Scroop's suspicions had been true… somehow. Had he allowed Ariah to get too close to someone once again, and now there was yet another price to be paid?

* * *

Ariah tried to contain her sobs, though it was painful to control such organic emotions.

The tears simply kept flowing, as if some emotional dam inside her had broken down its once impenetrable barrier.

Finally, after a few self-inflicted jabs to her already cracked ribs, the young woman managed to snap herself out of the sobbing stupor and forced back the last of her tears.

She wiped her wet eyes on the back of her hand and brushed away the tear tracks from her cheeks with a shaky sigh.

Suddenly, Ariah caught the sound of approaching footfalls and leapt to her feet. She was intending to cover up her weakness.

Ariah listened a moment to the footsteps and recognized them. There was the creak of a mechanical leg at every second step and the chirping of a young morph. The young woman miserably sunk down into her hammock and held her head in her hands.

* * *

Jim glanced down at the separated foam on the top of his pint of ale. He shook the cast-iron stein half-heartedly, and took a short sip before pushing it aside.

The alcoholic beverage left a bitter taste on his tongue, though he doubted that it was entirely the drinks' cause. He looked up from the scuffed up surface of his table, out over the crowded mess hall.

The majority of the sailors currently in the mess hall surrounded Doctor Doppler's table, some were passed out under the table. To Jim's knowledge they were having a drinking competition but for what particular purpose, he didn't know.

Jim sighed; he lifted himself from the bench and walked groggily towards the exit of the mess hall. Though he had barely anything to drink and the night had _just begun_, Jim was already sick of the celebration and worn out.

He wanted no more than to just jump into bed and let his dreams carry him to places unfathomable. But the young teenager knew better than to go to the crew's quarters right now as the harsh memory of his and Ariah's argument flashed through his memory. He then ascended the steps exiting the mess hall, and walked out onto the main deck.

* * *

Silver looked through the opened door into the dimly lit crew's quarters. The room's sole occupant was Ariah, who sat in her hammock, prodding limply at the hardwood floor with the toes of her boots.

A rarely used expression of sadness and despair was on her face as she raised it from her hands to look at him, though the shadows of the room barely shed light upon it.

Slowly, Silver approached the young woman. Morph nervously floated at his shoulder.

A lengthy pause endured between them as Silver made his way to the hammock facing Ariah. He settled himself into it and waited a moment.

Morph was abnormally quiet and hovered at Silver's shoulder, watching the young woman with concern.

Ariah breathed through her nose and exhaled from her mouth in an upset sigh. She kept her eyes on the dusty floor and murmured gently.

"I suppose…" Ariah held her chin against her palms. "You're going to lecture me about something." She glanced up at Silver with her sad copper-brown eyes. "Aren't you?" Her voice was quite hoarse from crying.

Silver leaned forwards with his elbows on his knees. His large hands clasped together in front of him as he pondered on what words he should use. He licked the outside of his dried lips and spoke gently.

"That would depend on _what_ yeh'd need teh be lectured on…" He smiled ever so weakly.

* * *

Jim shoved his hands into his jacket's pockets as he walked out into the cooled deck. The galaxy, that they were anchored in, was one abundant with asteroids and had hardly any stars nearby.

He speculated that it would likely be harder than usual to get the ship back on course at full speed when the morning starlight appeared. It was similar to when he had tried to fly his solar surfer through a shadowy canyon back on Montressor. The solar surfer's futile sail hadn't been enough to provide his engine with power and the full cells discharged faster than he could utter a single curse. The Robocops had soon apprehended him for trespassing on yet another restricted factory area and brought him home to his mother.

Jim sighed and leaned against the bow's outer railing. He smoothed a hand through his brunette bangs and frowned slightly. It seemed that those restricted access zones on Montressor taunted him into entering them. As if rebelling was a natural instinct. Jim slammed a fist angrily against the railing. He was through with rebelling, once and for all.

Rebelling had caused his mother so much pain. Rebelling had ruined his life up until the stormy night when Billy Bones had crash-landed by the Benbow Inn. Rebelling had nearly gotten him killed on a variety of occasions on this very ship –the first being up against Scroop- and he had barely gotten out of that scrape, if not for the help of both Silver and Ariah.

Jim sighed holding his head in his hands. Ariah… now _there_ was something he had just recently screwed up. What force in the Etherium had made him say that he didn't trust her? Of course he trusted her, more than most people in his life, but he felt that now it was far too late to ask for forgiveness.

A few tears brimmed at the edges of his pale blue eyes, but he quickly wiped them away before they could spill onto his cheeks.

* * *

Ariah sighed and looked away from the cook, slightly ashamed at herself.

"Yeh can tell me 'bout it, darling." Silver stated.

Ariah frowned slightly and shook her head. "Jim and I… we got into an argument and said some things that we shouldn't have."

"An'?" Silver raised an eyebrow.

"Silver…" Ariah's quiet whisper was strained with intense emotion. "This isn't just your normal argument." She clenched her hands together. "I think I really screwed up what Jim and I have. But I don't want it to end." She sighed morbidly. "The feelings I felt towards _Ortona_, are nowhere as intense as the feelings I feel now towards _Jim_." Ariah glanced away and bit her bottom lip. "I love him, Silver."

There was a short silence, broken by a low chuckle from John Silver. Ariah snapped out of her miserable slump to glare harshly at the older sailor. She was surprised and angered that he would laugh at a time like this.

Ariah nearly opened her mouth to spout some comment, before Silver held up a hand to stop her. The annoyed teenager shut her mouth but scowled at the cyborg as his deep chuckle developed into a hearty laugh.

"Well then go after him, lass…" Silver smiled at Ariah, wiping away the tears that had formed in his left eye from laughing so hard. "The lad shares the same feelings for yeh as yeh do for him."

Ariah's eyes brightened as her face seemed to glow from happiness. "He… he does?"

"Of course he does, darling." Silver laughed aloud. "I'm sure of it." He smiled. "An' if even after a quarrel with the lad yeh still feel the same 'bout him, well..." Silver lifted his hat off of his head and chuckled. "I 'ave a feelin' that yeh won't 'ave a problem fixin' it, if yeh work together."

Ariah looked at Silver with admiration, lost for words.

John Silver cleared his throat. "Now…" He placed his hat back onto his head. "On with yeh," He shooed the eighteen-year-old. "It's not gonna get any better 'til yeh apologize teh the lad..." The cyborg motioned towards the crew's quarters' doorway.

Ariah smiled warmly, her copper-brown eyes filling with tears of gratification. She leapt from her hammock and hugged Silver tightly where he sat. Then, Ariah didn't wait a moment longer. She bolted out of the crew's quarters.

Morph instinctively followed Ariah, excited to be following the action.

Silver chuckled lightly, beaming with pride not only directed to himself but to Ariah as well. He slowly lifted himself from the hammock and prepared himself for some well-needed rest.

* * *

After barrelling out of the crew's quarters Ariah rammed into a rather hard object, which turned out to be Scroop. She fell to the floor as if she had run at top speed straight into one of the corridor's walls, but the crash hadn't stopped her devilish smile.

Ariah shook the minute dizziness from her head and recuperated instantly, hopping back onto her feet as if nothing happened. She smiled up at a Scroop happily.

Scroop gave her an odd and suspicious look. Normally Ariah wasn't often _this _happy… unless she had already been drinking.

"Can't talk at all. I'm in love. Gotta go tell Jim!" Ariah sing-sung and leapt past the crimson arachnid.

She quickly ran down the hallway. Morph was at the fleeing scullery maid's shoulder.

Scroop sighed at the teenager's hyperactivity, hardly in the mood to be bitter about the relationship of his rival and his close friend. He glared, the moment he entered the crew's quarters, at Silver, who was now lying back in his hammock.

Silver waved innocently at the crimson alien with a matching smirk.

"So…" Scroop glowered at the cyborg. "I suppose this is how _you're_ weaving their happy ending." He hissed silently.

"I'm not the one weavin' it…" Silver rolled his eyes. "I'm just givin' the happy endin' weavers a kick in the butt teh get back teh work." He smirked cheekily.

Scroop growled in irritation, but decided not to comment further on the subject.

"So." Silver sighed. "Did yeh get the bearings?"

Scroop chortled lightly. "Yes, we finally obtained them. It is Flint's Trove."

"How in the Etherium did yeh do that, Scroop?" Silver asked, impressed by the feat.

Scroop scoffed. "Apparently, we just had to say _please_…" Scroop skittered to his own hammock, leaving the grinning pirate to his thoughts and dreams, while he got some rest.

* * *

There were no sailors out on the main deck, it seemed that the assigned sailors for night watch had abandoned their posts to get some more alcohol. Either that or they were among the passed out sailors at Doctor Doppler's feet.

"Jim?" Ariah called out once she arrived on the main deck. Morph zipped at her shoulder, chirping at the excitement.

The aforementioned teenager lifted his head from his hands. He turned towards the familiar voice and thought of what to say.

"Jim." Ariah took a deep breath and walked up to the brunette teenager, talking as she walked. "I'm really sorry about what I said back there. It was stupid of me to think that you didn't trust me, and then let it escalate into what it did."

By this time Ariah had already said a mouthful in one breath and was a few feet from Jim. The brunette teenager couldn't help by cock an eyebrow in intrigue at where the other teenager was going with her rant.

"You have every right to trust or to not trust me an-"

Jim cut off Ariah's rant with a rather passionate kiss. Jim wrapped his arms around Ariah's waist, pulling her closer into a hug. Ariah was shocked –to say the least- and a little confused.

Finally, Jim separated the embrace and smiled genuinely at Ariah. "I didn't know it was humanely possible to say that many words in one breath." He smirked.

"But…" Ariah could only muster a whisper with all of the conflicting emotions battling in her head. "I thought… that I'd messed everything up." She couldn't help but grasp lightly onto Jim's jacket collar, as if double-checking that this was really Jim.

Jim gently brushed his hand against Ariah's cheek, making them meet eyes. "We both said some stupid things in that room, Ariah." The young man sighed. "But what's important is that I know that I trust you now…" He looked down into her copper-brown eyes. "And…" Jim cleared his throat. "I need to ask you something…"

"Yes?" Ariah looked up at the brunette.

"Do you still trust me?" He asked.

Ariah chuckled. "More than just that." She stated. "You made me realize how much I care for you, and…" Her copper-brown eyes seemed to glow with the intense emotion. "I am undoubtedly in love with you, Jim." Ariah spoke clearly.

Jim simply smiled and locked lips with Ariah.

Afterwards, the young woman sighed and rested her head against Jim's shoulder, glad to get the feeling off of chest.

Jim smirked, holding the black-haired girl closer. "And I'm in love with you, Ariah." He stated. "I know now, that… you're the one."

Ariah's head rose from Jim's shoulder, tilting to the side from curiosity. "Define _the one_." She smirked mischievously and raised an eyebrow.

Jim leaned closer until his lips were just beside Ariah's ear. "You're the one I know that I'll love forever… my soul mate." He backed up at bit and looked meaningfully into Ariah's copper-brown eyes. She knew that he had meant every word that he had said.

"Hmm…" Ariah smiled warmly. "I could use a soul mate." She rested her head back against Jim's shoulder. "And you fit the bill nicely, Jim."

"Lucky me…" Jim chuckled. "No matter where we are, you'll always be with me." He closed his eyes and exhaled softly. "In my heart."

"No matter what happens?" Ariah smiled.

"No matter what." Jim promised.

"I couldn't agree more." Ariah sighed. "You'll _always_ be with me, Jim…" She stated. "In my heart and in my memories."

The young man rested his head against Ariah's and the couple stood together in each other's arms the shadows of the Etherium.

They were completely surrounded by the twinkling lights of billions of stars that were far from them. Yet they seemed to be in a world of their own, oblivious to what was going on around them.

Morph giggled happily –like he _always_ did in the event of romance- and exploded into clouds of confetti and colourful fireworks.

"Come on…" Ariah lifted her head from under Jim's. "Let's go have a pint and we'll see if I'm in the mood to dance on tables and sing like crazy." She winked suggestively.

Jim chuckled. "Only if I get to dance with you." He whispered.

Ariah smiled, taking her hand in Jim's and leading him down to the noisy mess hall. "I'll even teach you the song I plan on singing." She nudged his shoulder with hers.

"Yippee…" Jim cheered flatly, but it was evident from the twinkle in his pale blue eyes that he was curious.

Morph giggled at the two love-struck teenagers and obediently flew off to the pantry.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks for editing Whisperwings! This chapter's shorter because I really can't start on the next bit of the story without having a separate chapter.

**MG#6**


	24. Light Spectrums and Dark Truths

**Author's Note:**

Well… here are some more movie-oriented scenes. Thanks to Whisperwings for betaing!

* * *

**Chapter 24: Light Spectrums and Dark Truths**

Sleep came easily to the crew, as the majority of them were already unconscious from consuming large amounts of alcohol. Few people were up before the galaxy's faint starlight began to shine from behind the rotating space matter.

Ariah groggily awoke a few minutes before the specific galaxy's dawn. She silently reached down under hammock, wanting her full body harness but instead she grabbed her solar glider. The young woman didn't bother making the exchange and strapped her invention onto her back.

Slowly, she made her way down to the galley, searching for Morph in the pantry. The slumbering morph awoke the moment he recognized Ariah's footsteps. He hurriedly guided her back onto the main deck, in order to make it on time to see the rainbow effect on the crystallized space matter.

The exhausted and relatively sober scullery maid hardly protested against Morph's phenomenal strength. The two spectators soon reached the main deck and hurried to the bow to watch the natural event.

* * *

The three nearest white dwarves -Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri, and Gamma Centauri- shone identically through the space matter. Their positions in the Etherium resembled an equilateral triangle and gave the frozen space dust a crystallized appearance.

Morph and Ariah watched with batted breath as the starlight slowly increased in luminosity as passing obstructions moved from the three stars momentarily.

Finally the light spectrum shone through the space matter and bathed the main deck of the RLS Legacy in a multi-coloured rainbow. Ariah closed her eyes and felt the Legacy's artificial atmosphere gently warm up from the starlight.

Morph giggled as he played around in the bands of rainbow light that hit the glimmering deck. He changed colours appropriately and camouflaged in the bright light.

Ariah smiled widely as orbiting planets and asteroids slowly eclipsed the natural phenomenon. The rainbow light slowly faded and the RLS Legacy's main deck returned to its light oak colour.

The scullery maid sighed and turned away from the bow. Then an idea sprung into her mind and she smiled mischievously. Whistling innocently Ariah ambled down the length of the main deck.

From curiosity, Morph cautiously followed the black-haired teenager. When Ariah abruptly halted at the entrance to the lower decks, she managed to catch Morph in her hand before he could crash into her face.

"Shh…" Ariah pressed an index finger against her smiling lips. She released the tiny transformer and looked around. "Morphy…" Her sly smirk widened. "I have a _little_ job for you." The young woman winked playfully.

The inquisitive morph obediently transformed into an ear; to listen closely to Ariah's hushed commands.

* * *

Jim mumbled peacefully in his sleep. He had no idea that a silent morph was currently transforming into one of his boots while a sneaky scullery maid snatched one of the originals.

Ariah gently tiptoed from Jim's hammock, carefully avoiding contact of any of the other crewmember's hammocks. She was especially cautious of the alien sleeping in the hammock above Jim's –Mister Zoff- as his light peach tentacles were dangling from the side of the makeshift bed.

Periodically, the flatula alien would exhale a series of nauseating noises, which bellowed from his tentacles with an accompanying blast of hot air. It was difficult to not laugh aloud or groan in disgust at this, but Ariah managed to contain herself.

Ariah stealthily wove through the jungle of hammocks and slumbering aliens, and she waited at the doorway to observe Jim's reaction as Morph took his commanded position in her plan. This was going to be entertaining…

* * *

Mister Zoff emitted a large flatulent breath right into Jim's face, disgusting the young cabin boy more than he wanted.

The brunette teenager waved the hot air from his face and pushed past the larger alien's tentacles. He dropped out of his hammock and tiredly reached for one of his boots. After pulling it over his socked foot he noticed that his other boot was hopping away.

"Morph?" The half-asleep teenager grumbled. "Morph, knock it off. It's too early for this…" He sighed tiredly.

Jim pawed at the bouncing boot, unenthusiastic about retrieving it and more keen on returning to his hammock. The floating boot agilely manoeuvred around the sluggish cabin boy and gave him a hard kick in the backside. Jim fell onto his face and cast aside his temporary slothful ways.

"Morph!" Jim's head snapped up, one hand held back his messy brunette bangs as he glared forward at the little _boot_.

The boot sprouted a tongue at its toe and it blew a loud raspberry at the cabin boy. Then Morph shifted back into his regular form and laughed childishly at Jim. The tiny transformer zipped over to a now laughing Ariah.

Jim glared sternly at the duo of tricksters. Ariah smiled mischievously and waved Jim's boot around in the air, as if offering a treat to a pet. She giggled at Jim's angered expression. Ariah swiftly hopped to her feet and ran out of the crew's quarters towards the main deck. Morph immediately followed her, still giggling jovially at Jim's expense.

"Come back here!" Jim leapt to his feet and bolted towards Morph and Ariah.

"Come back here!" Morph mimicked happily.

Jim ran quickly after the two schemers with one boot on, intending to retrieve his other stolen boot as soon as possible. Ariah skipped happily up the steps to the main deck, now immersed in golden starlight. Morph was at Ariah's shoulder; half keeping an eye on their pursuer, half looking towards where they were going.

* * *

Ariah quickly shoved Jim's boot into Morph's waiting mouth as the aforementioned cabin boy's arms encircled around her waist and she was pulled backwards.

The two teenagers crashed back first onto the glimmering deck. Ariah was sprawled across Jim's lap with her waist in his arms. Her head rested against his shoulder and they were both panting from the short morning run.

"Gotcha…" Jim whispered shortly into Ariah's ear.

Ariah giggled. "Good morning, Mister Hawkins."

The look Jim gave Ariah told her plainly that he wasn't in the mood for small talk. She turned around in Jim's arms, lifted herself above him and looked down at his face with her hands planted at either side of his head.

"Now what are you going to do to me?" She batted her eyelids innocently at the cabin boy but the seductive undertone in her voice suggested otherwise.

Jim chuckled and sat up, meeting lips with Ariah's. The tips of Jim's fingers gently brushed the side of Ariah's face as the scullery maid wrapped her arms around Jim's neck and pulled him closer.

* * *

A muffled -yet obnoxious- giggle interrupted their embrace and the two teenagers looked at the entrance of the mess hall. Morph held Jim's boot in his mouth with a look in his eyes as if to say '_you know you want it'_.

Both Jim and Ariah quickly leapt to their feet and began the pursuit once more, this time for the sly shape-shifter. Morph dove below the grated window that allowed light into the galley from its ceiling, dropping Jim's boot as he fazed through the holes.

"You little squit…" Jim snatched his boot and played whack-a-mole against the tiny transformer with his boot. Morph had changed into an image of Jim's head and repeated the young man's phrase over and over as while splitting into heads fit for each hole.

Finally Morph disappeared into the confines of the galley through the grated window while Jim batted his boot against the deck. Jim looked curiously down through the grated window, searching for the pink blob.

Jim glanced over his shoulder at Ariah, who rolled her copper-brown eyes at his juvenile behaviour, but not in a disproving way. Then Jim noticed a glint of metal, just around Ariah's neck.

"What this?" Jim walked up to Ariah, fishing out a small piece of metal attached to a woven rope of braided leather.

Ariah chuckled. "It's my good luck necklace." She smiled. "I made it recently, since I've had such good fortune."

Jim smiled up at Ariah and allowed the necklace to slip from between his fingers. The pendant of metal was without a doubt the same makeshift lock pick she had used to get out of the brig.

"C'mon…" Ariah gave the cabin boy a quick peck on the cheek. "We've got a morph to catch." She motioned for him to follow her down into the galley.

Jim did so, while simultaneously pulling on his boot, of course.

* * *

The cabin boy tripped over the last step and fell flat on his face when he successfully pulled on his boot. Ariah chuckled lightly at Jim and then looked around the mess hall for the hiding morph.

The RLS Legacy's scullery maid listened closely for familiar chirps and squeaks to no avail. She searched under tables and benches for a small patch of pink or a quivering camouflage.

Finally, Jim shouted "Busted!" and dove headfirst into a barrel of purps. Obviously he had located Morph.

Ariah smiled and then suddenly heard some angry shouts above the deck and some lumbering footfalls coming down into the mess hall.

* * *

The scullery maid scrambled to her feet only to trip over a loose board in the galley's once immaculate flooring and fall through the doorway that led into the RLS Legacy's pantry. She landed on her left, uninjured shoulder on the first step of the stairway into the dark pantry.

Moaning softly from the minute ache, Ariah pulled herself to her feet. The sounds of more sailors approaching grew, but a feeling of hostility scented the air thickly.

Ariah hid behind the half-closed pantry door and listened carefully to the sailors that had recently entered the mess hall. A small slit between the pantry's door and its frame allowed her enough space to see what was going on in the mess hall.

* * *

Jim looked out a hole in the purp barrel at the gathering sailors. He held Morph tightly between his hands, concealing the young transformer from the conversation.

* * *

"Look. What we're saying is that we're all sick of this waiting, Silver…" A loud complaint reverberated through the crowd.

"Why can't we just throw the dead weight overboard and take what we can get?" Another voice demanded agitatedly.

"There are only three of them left."

"We're wanting to move."

"We won't move 'til we got the treasure in hand." The dangerously intimidating voice of John Silver barked at the gathered pirates.

Jim gasped inwardly as he squinted through the small hole. Ariah reacted similarly and then she listened closely to the conversation.

"You've already had _thirteen_ weeks to plan this mutiny!" The banshee-like shriek of Birdbrain Mary echoed loudly. "Why can't you make up your blooming mind?" She screeched impatiently.

Many sailors grunted in agreement to the two-armed female's comment.

"Listen teh me, all of yeh." Silver's voice deepened as he spoke gravely. "Yeh know the terms I ask for plannin' mutinies."

"Aye…" The low voice of the head section of an alien –named Oxy- agreed. He climbed onto the table using his brown tentacles -which appeared to be dreadlocks- off of his other half. "Thirteen weeks and we're to keep our mouths shut around Ariah and other _dead weight_." Oxy stated bluntly.

Ariah's hands balled up into fists as the reality of being played by pirates –who she had thought of as friends- came crashing down upon her.

"Exactly." Silver stated firmly. "This is the thirteenth week… an' I guarantee that we'll 'ave moved in, before it's ended."

There was a murmur about the crowd as they quietly discussed the matter.

"Why do we 'ave to keep out traps shut 'round Ariah?" The nasal voice body section of an alien –named Moron- enquired, contradiction his other half's comment. "We've all seen how good she can fight, she'd be as good a pirate as any of us…" He stated.

There were scattered grunts of agreement in the crowd.

Silver sighed in frustration, his cyborg eye changed from its usual amber colour to a bright red because of his growing anger.

"How many times do I 'ave teh tell yeh pea brains?" The cyborg growled, balling his mechanical hand into a fist. "I say what's teh say, an' if I say that Ariah's not goin' teh be a part of this, then she won't be part of this… **no questions**!" He enforced his point by smashing his mechanical fist onto the mess hall table, denting it deeply and causing some of the nearby pirates to jump in fright.

* * *

Ariah bit down on her bottom lip and her fingernails were pressed firmly against her palms to keep back the urge to scream in frustration.

This was why she never made it through the thirteenth week in all of her years as a sailor… she'd had the wool pulled over her eyes from a trick created by a sailor she had come to trust immensely.

The betrayal felt as painful as if someone had stabbed a sword through her and pinned her in place against the pantry's wall. Ariah's copper-brown eyes watered slightly as she continued to listen closely to the talking pirates.

* * *

"I say we kill them all…" Scroop's noticeable voice echoed emptily through the mess hall, silencing the other sailors.

Silver turned towards the shadowy arachnid. "I say what's teh say!" He snapped, furious that the rebellious arachnid hadn't gasped the concept. "Disobey me orders again… like that stunt yeh pulled with Arrow…" Ariah and Jim's eyes widened simultaneously at this shocking comment. "…An' so help me, yeh'll be joinin' him!"

The pirate captain forcefully shoved the crimson alien against the purp barrel containing Jim and Morph, jostling it against the wall of the mess hall.

* * *

Ariah flinched; she hoped desperately that Jim and Morph were all right and more fervently that the bloodthirsty pirates hadn't yet discovered them.

A sickening mental image of Jim being torn apart by furious pirates –similar to when she was attacked by the canine aliens in Gyrogga- flashed momentarily through her mind before she managed to shake it off.

Jim quickly snatched Morph out of the air, clutching the tiny transformer closely so he wouldn't yell out from the jolt.

* * *

"Strong talk," Scroop hissed at the pirates' leader. "But I know otherwise." He reached his left pincer into the nearly emptied purp barrel. Ariah covered her mouth so she wouldn't shout out in fright.

Jim dodged Scroop's reaching red and black pincer and he quickly handed the arachnid a purp, without being too suspicious.

"Yeh got somethin' teh say, Scroop?" Silver demanded.

"It's that boy…"' Scroop held the purp between his pincers. "Methinks you have a soft spot for him." Scroop's crimson pincers pierced the skin of the purp at _'spot'_.

The mutinous pirates jeered in agreement, turning on their leader.

Silver thought for a moment –realizing the tight corner he had been pushed into- and then he quickly fabricated a reasonable comeback.

"Now, mark me, the lot of yeh." John Silver barked angrily. "I care about one thing, an' one thing only!" He pointed his cyborg hand. "Flint's trove." Silver's eyes glimmered dangerously at the mention of the legendary treasure. The leader scowled bitterly. "Yeh think I'd risk it all for the sake... of some _nose-wiping_ little whelp?"

Scroop cast aside the purp and turned to face the captain. "What was it now?" He smirked maliciously. "_'Oh, you got the makings of greatness in yeh…' _" The arachnid mockingly mimicked the cyborg cook from a time that Ariah couldn't recognize but one that Jim knew clearly.

"Shut yer yap!" Silver retorted sharply. "I cozied up teh that kid teh keep him off our scent." He pointed a cyborg finger at the arachnid. "But I ain't gone soft."

The pirates' discussion strayed no further as the heard Onus's loud voice called out through the RLS Legacy.

"Land ho!"

* * *

The crew of ruffians jeered with excitement as they eagerly rushed from the mess hall up to the main deck.

Jim's heart sank to his stomach as he released Morph from between his palms. The tiny transformer quickly whizzed from the interior of the purp barrel to go see what all the excitement was about, having not heard the conversation and realizing the problem.

It occurred to Jim that Ariah was also hidden somewhere in the mess hall. He quickly climbed out of the purp barrel and searched the mess hall for the black-haired teenager.

The young man finally located Ariah behind the pantry door. She had sunk down from the wall to the ground. Her arms were curled around her knees and her face was buried in her arms. The young woman was undoubtedly crying.

Jim did the only thing he could think of. He knelt down to Ariah's level, wrapped his arms around Ariah's shoulders and pulled her close against him.

The sobbing scullery maid buried her face against Jim's chest and allowed her feelings to continuously flow through her medium of tears.

No amount of rib jabbing was going to control this powerful emotion. It was the emotion that was the product of a betrayal; and one that made the teenagers feel more lost than they had ever expected to be.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Um, I guess that _this_ story's coming to a close, much faster than I anticipated.

Well this should be fun!

**MG#6**


	25. Retreat and Abandon Ship

**Author's Note:**

Wow… just wow…

* * *

**Chapter 25: Retreat and Abandon Ship**

"Ha, ha, ha!" Onus chuckled hysterically from the crow's nest. "There it is!" He looked down upon the main deck. "Feast eyes and click heels if you got 'em!"

The amazed crew gapped at the legendary planet. Silver stood at the top of the steps entering the mess hall and looked out upon the scene before him.

Treasure Planet… home to Captain Nathaniel Flint's trove… the loot of a thousand worlds… they weren't only just bedtime stories. His fool-hearty dream was finally coming together.

"Hmm…" The cyborg pawed at one of his coat's pockets. "Where's the devil's me glass?" He pondered aloud, referring to his pocket telescope.

He furrowed his brow in thought, trying to remember where he had had the collapsible telescope last. The pirate captain decided to search the mess hall and galley primarily.

* * *

"Thanks Jim…" Ariah wiped the tears from her copper-brown eyes. "For everything."

"Don't thank me just yet." Jim stated weakly, wiping away the tears that had fallen from his pale blue eyes with the back of his hand. "We still have to warn the captain about the pirates…" He stated. "And prove that you're not one of them."

Ariah sniffled. "Yeah." She shuddered at the vivid thought of her closest friends behind locked away or hung for piracy. She bit her bottom lip. "Some luck I have…" The young woman stated.

She bitterly tore the leather chain from her neck and tossed it forcefully against the floor in defeat. More tears fell from her eyes as she turned away from Jim with her arms wrapped around her knees.

The brunette teenager leaned forwards and picked up the discarded necklace. He looked over it meaningfully in his palm, seeing his reflection in the partially charred metal.

Jim inhaled calmly and gently lifted Ariah's chin so they were facing each other. Ariah hesitantly locked eyes with Jim.

"Don't give up, Ariah." Jim whispered as he placed the makeshift necklace back around Ariah's neck. "Not yet…"

Ariah sighed and inhaled determinedly. "I won't, Jim."

Jim hugged her closely, trying to reassure her that everything would be all right, though he was harbouring doubts of his own.

The two teenagers rose to their feet, hand-in-hand, and half-heartedly left the RLS Legacy's pantry. Ariah squeezed Jim's hand, hoping for some closure.

Jim's smiled weakly back at her, trying to stay strong. Ariah glanced up at a shining object on one of the mess hall's tables and gasped.

It was John Silver's pocket telescope, which meant that the pirate captain would likely be returning to retrieve it any moment now…

* * *

Silver slowly stepped down the wooden steps into the RLS Legacy's mess hall. His stalling cyborg leg was no help to the excitement welling up in his chest. There was a burning need in him to double-check that the planet before them was truly a myth made real and not some folly illusion.

He entered the mess hall and notice two things immediately. One, his telescope was on the first table to his left in the mess hall. Two, Jim and Ariah happened to be in the mess hall, despite their previous absence.

Silver pondered. Where had the two teenagers been all this morning? He could've likely guess that Ariah had woken up early to watch the crystalloid effect of the starlight on all of the space matter… But as far as he could remember, both Jim and Ariah had already left their hammocks when he had awoken that morning.

"Playin' games, are we?" John Silver raised an eyebrow at the two teenagers suspiciously. His look was no longer the soft, knowing look of a playful assumption; it had transformed into a cold, serious expression of mistrust.

"Yeah…" Jim stated cautiously. "We're playing games." He stepped towards Silver.

Ariah remained frozen in place, fearful of what was going to happen.

"Oh I see…" Silver forced a casual sighed. "Never was much good at games."

Something clicked behind Silver, within his cyborg arm. Ariah met the pirate captain's cold sights, stunned with surprise at what she knew he was charging up.

"Always hated teh lose." Silver stated level-headedly.

"Hmm…" Jim gritted his teeth together.

He had obviously heard the cocking of a laser pistol and was trying to figure out how to escape this pirate captain. Then the cabin boy spotted a sharp blade on the table.

"Me too!" Jim leapt for the blade -before Silver could draw his laser pistol- and stabbed it into the pressurized rubber of Silver's mechanical leg.

The older man howled in pain as a gust of steam hissed out of his cyborg leg. Jim quickly grabbed Ariah by the hand and ran forwards out of the mess hall.

* * *

The two teenagers bolted out of the mess hall, running for the captain's stateroom. Silver limped behind them, his laser pistol drawn and his cyborg eye calculating a crosshair for him to fire at either Jim or Ariah.

Silver's aim faltered and he didn't try to press the trigger of the pistol. Was it because there was too much a risk of hitting Ariah? That, the half-mechanical man could tell his crew and it would make sense as far as they were concerned… But really, he had a hunch that his lack of shooting was because he cared deeply for _both_ of the teenagers.

The pirate captain stood to his full height and let out a high-pitched whistle, getting the entire crew's attention. "Change of plans, lads…" He boomed; his mechanical arm shifted from its normal hand to a cutlass. "We move now!" Silver ordered loudly.

All of the pirate crew immediately rushed towards the captain's stateroom, ready to kill the odd ones out and initiate the mutiny to their fullest content.

"Strike our colours, Mister Onus." Silver commanded.

"With pleasure, Captain!" The many-eyed alien saluted from the crow's nest.

He quickly removed Montressor's national flag, casting it out into the Etherium, and replaced it with the well-worn flag. On the black, ragged flag was a white three-eyed skull with a pair of atomic valences, similar to the tilted rings of Treasure Planet. It was the flag of Captain Nathaniel Flint, and of all pirates.

* * *

"Pirates on my ship, I'll see they all hang!" Captain Amelia opened her arms cabinet curtly and retrieved two proton rifles.

Ariah squirmed nervously, looking at the two men standing with her. Jim had thoroughly explained to the feline captain everything they had heard from the crew's meeting, but Ariah was still unsure whether the captain entirely trusted her.

"Doctor, familiar with these?" The red-haired captain lightly tossed a proton rifle from her weaponry cabinet into Doctor Delbert Doppler's hands.

"Oh, I've seen-… well I've read-"

The canine astrophysicist cut off his own statement by accidentally firing an energy-charged proton shot -that would've hit Ariah had she not quickly dodged it- and demolished a globe on one of the end tables in the captain's pristine stateroom.

"No, no, no… I'm not." Doctor Doppler restated firmly.

Captain Amelia sighed, and she reached into her cabinet once more. "Mister Hawkins, defend this with you life." She tossed a strange golden sphere with runes inscribed upon it into Jim's hands.

Suddenly a pink blob snatched the shining sphere from Jim's hands.

"Morph! Give me that!" Jim scolded the transformer, pulling the map from Morph's grip.

There was a pounding at the captain's stateroom's barred entrance. Ariah jumped on the spot, snapping out from her otherworldly thoughts.

"Ma'am… is there some connection to the longboats' docking area through your quarters?" The black-haired teenager demanded, searching the esteemed stateroom for another exit, besides the large window.

"Well of course there is Miss Clarke, but why in the Etherium would we-" The feline woman spotted Ariah's determined look, realizing what the young woman meant, and she sighed. "We're to abandon ship at the mercy of pirates?" Captain Amelia stated bluntly.

"It's better that getting torn limb from limb by them." Ariah chuckled weakly. She winced as another loud pound at the metal door to the stateroom jostled them.

"Good thinking, Miss Clarke." Captain Amelia nodded. "Through that door over there."

The pounding on the titanium door grew more intense as a large alien –likely Mister Hands- attempted to barge into the stateroom.

"Let's hurry!" The feline captain rushed towards the door with her three companions quickly dashing after her.

They exited the captain's quarters moments before the pirates barged into the room. One could tell from the buzzing of charges that the pirates had likely accessed the rest of the captain's weapons and were now armed and _more_ dangerous.

* * *

There were few times in Ariah's life in which she had to run as fast as she was currently running at the moment. Most –if not all- of the times were life-threatening situations, but this was the first time in her life where that she had been running for her dear life from a pack of armed pirates.

The fleeing quintet weaved through the metallic innards of the RLS Legacy's lower decks. Sometimes one of them would stumble -most of the times being Doctor Doppler- but they quickly recuperated and kept running.

* * *

Finally, they arrived at the lowest deck where the longboats' docks were placed. Captain Amelia slammed shut a thick metal door behind her, namely on the pirates' faces, and she sealed it off with a stream of proton heat.

"Into the longboats, quickly!" She commanded.

Both Ariah and Jim were the first into the longboats' docks. Jim ran forwards and pulled the lever that opened the hull's hatch. Ariah quickly unlashed the ropes securing the longboat to the docks' sides while Doctor Doppler and Captain Amelia quickly entered the swinging boat.

"Oh yeh are takin' all day 'bout it…" Silver's voice boomed from the opposite side of the thick entrance. There was a lowly charging and the boom of a proton cannon as the thick door to the longboats' docks was blasted clear off of the wall.

* * *

Jim hopped into the boat, preparing to lower the ropes when suddenly a pesky transformer snatched something from his jacket's pocket.

"MORPH!" Jim hollered at the pink blob's horrible timing. He leapt from the longboat while Ariah, Delbert and Amelia took cover.

* * *

Silver defiantly pulled the lever back to its original position, watching the hatch slowly close under the longboats. He smirked as he was gradually closing in on those who kept the key to Flint's Trove from him.

The pirate captain turned to watch a stumbling Jim Hawkins trying to catch Morph who was holding –in his mouth- the very key to Flint's Trove.

Silver's eyes widened greedily as he limped forwards. He had to have that map…

* * *

"Chew on this, you pus-filled boils." Captain Amelia hissed at the pirates as she fired off rounds after rounds of proton shots at the ruffians.

"You're, um, pretty vicious when it comes to pirates, Ma'am…" Ariah stated, smirking at Captain Amelia's zeal.

Suddenly the doctor's rifle shot off, hitting a main support beam from one of the longboats' docks and a group of charging pirates fell to their deaths.

"Doctor, did you actually _aim_ for that?" Captain Amelia enquired to the astrophysicist, who had shot the platform's support.

"You know, I actually _did_!" Doctor Doppler stated, amazed at his own untapped skill.

Quickly Captain Amelia shoved the doctor down -so he could avoid getting his head blown off by proton shots- and fired more rounds at the pirates.

"This isn't working!" Ariah shouted to the two hybrids over the rifle shots. "We need a plan _before_ we get killed."

"I agree with Miss Clarke." Doctor Doppler stated. "Perhaps a friendly surrender and maybe we won't get executed."

Ariah huffed at the astrophysicist's suggestion. "That's not what I meant! Besides, they'd make us walk the plank into the Etherium if they weren't going to kill us up front."

"How barbaric!" The canine gasped.

"They're pirates." Ariah stated. "Haven't you ever read stories on them?"

"Well certainly-" Doctor Doppler whimpered as a proton shot made a sizeable hole in the longboat, close to his head. "But I can tell you that I have no intention of experiencing any of it!"

"Oh, blast it!" Captain Amelia cursed under her breath as her proton rifle stopped firing, as it needed time to recharge.

The captain looked around the chaotic dock house in her once mild-mannered ship. She examined the two pulleys holding up their longboat and then ducked down.

"Doctor…" She turned to the brunette hybrid and motioned towards the pulleys. "When I say '_now_' you shoot out the forward cable. I'll take this one. All right?"

Doctor Doppler nodded obediently. Ariah smiled weakly, _it wasn't the best of plans but at least it was a plan…_

* * *

"Come on Morph, who's a good boy?"

"Come 'ere Morphy, come teh papa."

Both Jim Hawkins and John Silver were trying to fervently sweet-talk the little morph into handing over the map to Treasure Planet.

The aforementioned blob, however, was so equally torn between his two friends that he decided to drop down into a coil of ropes and see who could get the map first.

Jim, having no disabilities to wither the use of his legs, reached the coil of ropes first.

The young man swiftly snatched the shining sphere from the coil of ropes, readying himself for the planned escape. He paused a half beat and glanced at the cyborg suspiciously before rushing towards the longboat.

Silver lifted his laser pistol. His cyborg eye calculated all of the necessary components in a heartbeat but once again, Silver didn't have the stomach to take Jim's life…

* * *

"Now!" Captain Amelia cried as Jim dove towards the longboat, before the pirates could get a clear shot of them.

The two hybrids quickly shot the pulleys holding up the longboat and the transport skilfully dropped down through the hatch just as Jim landed against the port gunnels of the skiff. The longboat stopped falling once it hit the Etherium's anti-gravitational area, jarring its occupants slightly.

"Parameters met. Hydraulics engaged." Captain Amelia immediately prepared the longboat for flying, briskly assembling the solar sail and charging up the engine.

Quickly, before they started flying at fast speeds, Ariah and Doctor Doppler pulled the rest of Jim into the longboat; double-checking that he was all right.

Captain Amelia set the longboat at full throttle and began driving down through the planet's atmosphere towards its dense foliage.

* * *

As the orange-skinned alien had been among the pirates who had fallen to his death, there was only one other pirate alive in John Silver's crew who had an expertise for the ship's laser cannons.

Meltdown sat at a starboard side laser cannon. The crosshair of the laser cannon swiftly calculated everything to blow the retreating longboat to oblivion.

The dark brown salamander-like alien –albeit he resembled a _very_ rotund salamander- snickered sinisterly. "Come ta papa…" He reached for the trigger and pressed his gluttonous digit down onto it.

"Hold yer fire. Yeh idiot!"

Silver and Scroop simultaneously shoved the laser canon off its given course, sending Meltdown flying from his seat. But nonetheless a large proton shot was fired.

"Ariah's on there, you fool." Scroop snarled furiously at the fallen alien, his golden eyes glowing with rage as he watched the proton ball soar towards the longboat.

"Aye, an' even if she weren't…" Silver glowered. "They've got the map."

* * *

"Cannon fire…" Ariah gasped as she watched the proton shot that was launched from the starboard side of the RLS Legacy approach them.

"Captain!" Doctor Doppler shouted urgently. "Laser ball at twelve o'clock!"

It was too late for the feline captain to divert their course. The giant blue-purple proton ball cracked against the stern of the tiny longboat, destroying the mast, solar sail and the longboat's main engine.

"Ah!" Captain Amelia let out a painful cry as she gripped her side, injured from the explosion.

The feline woman quickly snapped back into action, grasping the next to useless throttle and trying to steady their inevitable crash through giant mushroom infested forest of the legendary planet.

* * *

"Ariah, your solar glider!" Jim shouted to the stunned sailor.

"What?" Ariah steadied herself against the longboat's gunnels as it crashed through the top of another giant mushroom.

"Use your solar glider as another sail." Jim yelled.

"Too late." Doctor Doppler ducked down fearfully. "Take cover, we're going to crash!"

Ariah buried herself into Jim's arms as they both braced themselves against the bottom of the longboat.

The tiny longboat flipped over, spun completely out of control, and crashed forcefully into the ground. The inverted longboat dragged along the vine-riddled ground until it finally came to a stop.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks Whisperwings, for editing so quickly!

**MG#6**


	26. Treasure Planet & Bioelectric Navigator

**Author's Note:**

Wow… already on Treasure Planet… Well, thanks very much to Whisperwings and enjoy reading my loyal readers!

* * *

**Chapter 26: Treasure Planet and Bioelectric Navigator**

"Jim, Jim!" Ariah's voice called to the brunette teenager. He felt Ariah's hands reach out towards him and gently shake his shoulders.

Jim opened his pale blue eyes and came to realize where they were. The inverted longboat was over them and they were stuck in a lengthy, but shallow, trench; likely made from the longboat during impact.

"Are you all right?" Ariah asked.

Jim coughed from the dusty air. "Yeah…" He groaned from a slight headache, but all else was fine as far as he could tell.

"Good." Ariah coughed. "Let's get this thing off of us." She suggested.

Jim sat up and pressed his hands against the wooden seats of the longboat. Ariah did the same and the two teenagers managed to shove the longboat off of them, opening up to the jungle environment that they had crash-landed into.

* * *

"Oh my goodness." Doctor Doppler sighed gratefully as he shakily stood to his feet by the overturned skiff. "That was more fun than I ever want to have again." He stated, wiping the dirtied lens of his spectacles.

Captain Amelia chuckled lightly at the astrophysicist's comment as she pulled herself to her feet. "That wasn't one of my more… _gossamer_ landings." She stated bluntly.

Suddenly the feline spacer sank to her knees with a cry of pain.

Ariah, Jim and Doctor Doppler moved to help the hardened captain back up onto her feet.

"Oh don't fuss…" The feline frowned. "Slight bruising, that's all."

Captain Amelia stubbornly waved away their hands and pulled herself to her feet.

"A cup of tea and I'll be as right as rain." She stood confidently, straightening out her blue coat. "Now, Mister Hawkins…"

Captain Amelia squinted at the other three with her, trying to recognize which one was the cabin boy.

"The map, if you please." She held out a gloved paw.

"Oh…" Jim reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved the strange sphere that was undoubtedly the treasure map to Flint's Trove. Or was it _really_?

The sphere spontaneously rose to eye-level, the buttons between its inscribed runes sucked in to its core and the map changed into a rather amused transformer.

"MORPH?" Jim yelled in disbelief at the laughing pink blob. "Where's the map?" He demanded.

Morph giggled and illustrated plainly that it was still in the coil of rope in the longboat dock house on the RLS Legacy.

"Are you serious?" Jim shouted, tempted to tear out his hair. "It's back on the ship?"

A feeling of dread came across the quartet as Morph joyfully flew around the clearing while Jim was trying to catch him and find a means of strangling the protoplasm.

Captain Amelia's ears perked up at a whining of a longboat engine above them. "Stifle that blob and get low…" She commanded. "We've got company." The feline motioned to the approaching longboat.

Jim finally grabbed Morph and silenced him. He and Ariah knelt down behind the overturned skiff, watching the pirate-filled longboat slowly ease down through the mushroom foliage.

The longboat passed over their skiff's crash site, yet they weren't spotted, and the pirates continued journeying through the thick jungle, searching for the escapees.

Captain Amelia inhaled slowly, using a proton rifle as a means of support. "We need to find a more defensive position." She pulled a laser pistol from one of her hip holsters and handed it butt first to Jim. "Mister Hawkins, scout ahead."

"Aye Captain." The brunette teenager nodded, taking the pistol. He glanced at Ariah and then began walking through the ferns with Morph at his shoulder.

* * *

"Oh… ooh." Captain Amelia slowly lowered herself to the ground from pain.

"Steady, steady…" Doctor Doppler gently helped the captain to the ground with his hand at her elbow. "Now let's take a look at that." Doctor Doppler said, referring to the captain's injury.

Immediately, sensing a very awkward moment, Ariah turned towards the path that Jim had broken through the jungle.

"You know, I'm just going to go give Jim a hand." She stated with a nervous chuckle.

"What?" Doctor Doppler demanded.

"Well, two heads are better than one, after all… and besides," Ariah paused and bit her bottom lip, "You _are_ the doctor." Ariah added as she rushed from the clearing and ran to where Jim had gone off to scout.

Doctor Delbert Doppler sighed and continued the work he had begun.

* * *

Scroop paced the main deck of the RLS Legacy. His duty, as commanded by Silver, was to guard the ship in case anyone restricted from it somehow managed to access it; those restricted primarily being their _dead weight_.

After all, if the crew managed to find Flint's Trove, they'd need the RLS Legacy to stow away a minute portion of the unimaginable amount of treasure.

Scroop remembered watching the flaming longboat crash though the forest-covered surface of the legendary planet; the planet said to hold the loot of a thousand worlds.

The crimson arachnid climbed aloft and stood at the topsail, in the position that Ariah often took during launches.

Scroop hoped, something he hardly did often, that Ariah was all right. That somehow she had escaped death's cold, vice-like clutches once again.

His red pincer gently gripped the rope extending from the solar sail and his legs fully extended and he slowly inhaled.

Ariah used to do this when it was just him, her and Silver sailing together. She had said that it made her feel like she was flying and that she was completely free.

But had the cold, dark truths of everything she had found out in the past few hours finally clipped her wings and brought her plummeting to the ground?

Scroop sighed and looked out upon the Etherium. Questions that he didn't know the answers to filled his mind as he gazed upon the uncountable stars.

The arachnid slowly brought himself back down to the main deck to give the RLS Legacy another thorough patrol.

* * *

Jim and Ariah cautiously wandered through the exotic jungle. Morph flew apprehensively between the two teenagers' shoulders, peering around the unfamiliar foliage for unseen monsters. Jim vigilantly lead the way, armed with Captain Amelia's laser pistol.

Without warning, Ariah sighed sadly and slowed her footsteps until she had stopped.

Jim turned to face the black-haired teenager. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"It's just…" Ariah bit her bottom lip and rubbed the back of her head. "I'm not really used to having this much stuff happening to me in one day, you know." She looked up in Jim's eyes. "That's why I couldn't do anything to stop us from crashing, and I'm sorry."

Jim raised an eyebrow. "You're still going on about that?" He sighed. "Look. It's not your fault we crashed, it's the pirates'…"

"Yeah, but if I had gotten my solar glider attached to the main engine then _maybe_ we wouldn't have crashed." Ariah stated.

"The engine was toasted." Jim shook his head. "Even if you had enough time, we were still going to crash the longboat."

"But I could've done something!" Ariah shouted angrily. "Instead of just sitting still like some helpless airhead and not do anything useful, let alone avoid a crash-landing. I could've done _something_!" Ariah's voice caught at the back of her throat as she balled up her fist and looked away from Jim.

Jim stepped towards Ariah and gently grasped her hand. Ariah first looked at Jim's hand and then up at Jim.

"We can do something now…" He stated determinedly.

The young man smoothed his hand up Ariah's arm to her shoulder reassuringly.

"Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler are counting on us to find someplace safe, right?"

Ariah nodded. "Right." She cleared her throat and faced Jim. "And we can't let _them_ down, no can we?" Ariah smiled weakly and Jim smiled back.

* * *

"Set up camp." Silver ordered to his band of pirates. "We'll scour the jungle for 'em once everything's ready."

The loyal pirates quickly spread out, preparing the clearing in the jungle for an adequate outpost. Though the ruffians thirsted for more action, they knew better than to go against Silver's orders.

* * *

Once they cleared more of the jungle, the two teenagers and Morph arrived in a wide clearing, devoid of snagging vines and branches.

Jim halted and scanned the area cautiously. Ariah stopped beside the young man and gave him an odd look. Jim's hand went to the laser pistol he had been given and he looked forwards through a bushel of ferns at a pair of large glowing eyes.

Suddenly without warning, the creature with glowing eyes leapt out at him.

"Ah!" Jim jumped back, unable to fire the laser pistol because the thing that had pounced on him was _hugging_ him.

"Oh this is fantastic! Carbon-based life forms come to rescue me at last!" The creature clinging tightly to Jim cried out cheerfully. "I just wanna hug you and squeeze you… and hold you close to me."

The leaping creature actually turned out to be a very rusty, outdated robot with round telescopic eyes.

"All right…" Jim wheezed from lack of air. "OK." He glared at the now giggling Morph sharply to halt his laughter; Ariah simply looked curiously at the android. "Would you just let go of me?"

"Oh sorry, sorry, sorry…" The robot immediately jumped back, looking up at the brunette teenager with wide eyes while speaking rapidly. "You see I've been _marooned_ for so long…" He idly twiddled his metal thumbs. "I mean solitude's fine. Don't get me wrong." The android sighed. "For heaven's sake after a hundred years… you go a little nuts." He chuckled uneasily. "I'm sorry. Am I… I am, uh…" The short robot clutched his head as if experiencing an intense migraine. "My name's, um…"

Morph illustrated this robot's likely state of mind. Jim bluntly chastised the transformer while waiting for the tiny robot to remember his name.

"BEN!" The robot cried out in realization. "Of course, I'm BEN: Bioelectric Navigator. Oops…" A small compass inadvertently popped out of his chest and the android embarrassedly shoved it back into its proper place. The robot glanced at the two teenagers. "And you are?" He raised one of his metallic eyebrows.

"Jim."

"What a pleasure to meet you, Jimmy!" The robot chirped happily, shaking the young man's hand until his arm felt as if it were going to fall off.

The aforementioned teen squirmed under the robot's tight grip. "It's Jim." He narrowed his eyes irately at BEN, immediately disliking the nickname, and he pulled his arm out of robot's grasp.

"And you?" The rusty robot looked up at Ariah.

"I'm… Ariah." The nervous young woman stated; unsure whether this psycho robot was going to pounce on her as well.

"Please to meet you, Ariah…" BEN polite bowed to the black-haired teenager, obviously his manners towards ladies differentiated than to men.

"Look." Jim cleared his throat. "We're kind of in a hurry." The young man pushed back a few of his bangs from his pale blue eyes. "We need to find a place to hide, because there are pirates chasing after us…"

"Oh pirates!" BEN clenched his fist in anger. "Don't get me started on pirates! I don't like them." The short android tapped the side of his head to recall a memory. "I remember Captain Flint. This guy had _such_ a temper."

"Wait, wait, wait. You knew Captain Flint?" Jim gasped, amazed that the rusty robot could know the legendary pirate lord.

The rusted robot leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree. "I think he suffered from mood swings, personally." BEN stated. "I'm not a therapist, and anyways- you let me know when I'm rambling…"

"But wait, that means that you gotta know about the treasure." Jim's eyes lit up at the mere mention of the word.

"Treasure?" BEN asked, clueless of the matter.

"Flint's Trove?" Jim demanded. "You know…" He sighed in frustration, trying to put the legend in a nutshell. "The loot of a thousand worlds?"

"It's--well, it's... it's all a little--" BEN flinched, clasping his rusty head once more to focus his concentration. "Little--little fuzzy." The rusty robot blinked, or rather the lens on his telescope eyes blanked and returned to their normal screens. "Wait. I--I r-r-remember." He nodded. "I do. I--treasure! Lots of treasure buried in the centroid-- centroid--centroid of the mechanism." BEN's voice repeated itself, as if echoing in the short robot. "And there was this big door: opening and closing..." His eyes resembled a triangular door opening and closing. "And opening and closing... and Captain Flint wanted to make sure... nobody could ever get to his treasure... so I helped him..." BEN sputtered. "Ah! Data inaccessible! Reboot!"

Ariah and Jim looked bewilderedly at the robot, which continued shouting.

"BEN?" Jim grasped the aforementioned navigator by his shoulders and shook him to his senses. "BEN? BEN!"

"Reboot!" BEN yelled loudly.

Ariah shouted and hit the robot over the side of his metallic head with the palm of her hand, to get his functions back into place.

"Ah!" BEN yelped in alarm. He temporarily shut down and came to his senses, facing Jim. "And you are?" BEN asked, as if they hadn't gone through the past few minutes of introductory conversation at all.

Jim's jaw dropped, he was lost for words. "Wait, wait, wait!" He demanded, frustrated at the incompetent machine. "What about the treasure?"

BEN looked over Jim, scratching his jaw. "I want to say _Larry_." He stated.

Jim's face darkened from disappointment and irritation. "But… The-the centroid of the mechanism, or-"

"I'm sorry." BEN sighed miserably. "My memory isn't what it used to be. I've lost my mind." He laughed. "I've lost my mind. You haven't found it, have you?"

BEN searched Jim while the two teenagers looked at the robot in disappointment.

"Uh, my missing piece?" BEN tapped at a near empty hole at the back of his head. "My primary memory circuit?" He explained.

Ariah sighed dejectedly. "That makes sense…" She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "He doesn't have enough storage in his memory circuits to contain much information."

Jim sighed. "Look, BEN… we _really_ need to find a place to hide, OK?" He glanced nervously at the robot. "So we're just gonna be, you know, moving on."

The young man motioned to Ariah and to Morph to follow him as he turned away.

The short robot looked crestfallenly at his metal feet, which were nearly buried in the moss-covered clearing's ground. "Oh, uh, so, well, then..." He looked up at the two teenagers with wide saddened eyes. "I guess, uh... this is good-bye, huh?" BEN sat down at the base of a tree with his head bent in shame. "I'm sorry that I'm so dysfunctional. So, uh, go ahead and, I do understand. I do." He half-heartedly waved to the trio. "Bye-bye."

The pink blob whined slightly and gave the two teenagers innocent eyes, showing that he pitied the small robot.

Jim sighed. "Look, if you're gonna come along..." He shoved his hands into the outer pockets of his pants. "You're gonna have to stop talking."

"Huzzah! Ha, ha, ha!" BEN cheered noisily, latching himself onto Jim once more. "Oh, this is fantastic! Me and my best buddy are looking for a..."

Jim cleared his throat loudly, glaring daggers at BEN.

"Being quiet…" BEN whispered with a slight chuckle.

"And you have to stop touching me." Jim pried the robot off of him.

"Touching and talking." BEN rubbed his neck. "My two big _no-nos_." He duly noted.

Jim looked ahead, pointing his pistol at the ready. "OK. Now, I think that we should-"

"Say, listen, before we go out on our big search..." BEN interrupted. "Um, would you mind if we made a quick pit stop at my place?" He chuckled nervously. "Kind of urgent."

Ariah and Jim's jaws slackened as BEN parted the leaves of a fern, revealing a large hill with a strange sort of natural fortress situated atop it.

Jim chuckled. "BEN…" He couldn't help but smile widely as he looked upon the amazing hideout. "I think you just solved our problem."

It seemed like things were looking up for once that entire day…

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hmm… now what?

**MG#6**


	27. Revelations

**Author's Note:**

Wow… just, moving along the movie's original plot now aren't we?

Ahem, anyways… thanks for the lovely reviews and thanks for betaing, Whisperwings!

* * *

**Chapter 27: Revelations**

After returning to Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler's position -to explain the whereabouts of the newfound location- BEN, Ariah, Jim, Morph and the aforementioned hybrids tenaciously journeyed through the thick jungle towards their destination.

Captain Amelia could only walk so far through the jungle before her condition worsened.

Doctor Doppler offered to carry her in his arms.

While the feline woman refused the offer up front -stating that it was too _femme fatale_- it soon became clear to the party that they weren't going to get far with the captain collapsing from pain every couple of steps… and so the captain finally complied.

* * *

They climbed the steep hill up towards the entrance of the cavern. Ariah, Morph and Jim followed BEN, who was leading all of them into his hovel. Doctor Doppler -carrying Captain Amelia- took his time and kept a few steps behind the troop.

"Uh, pardon the mess, people…" BEN chuckled, embarrassed of the chaotic state of his humble abode. "You'd think in a hundred years..." He kicked aside a few random objects that had been scattered on the rock-hard floor. "I would've _dusted_ a little more often..."

It was evident that the ancient cavern needed a _little_ more than dusting.

The rusty robot gently picked up a random pair of heart-decorated underwear. "But, you know, when you're batchin' it... you tend to, uh, let things go." BEN set the underwear down on a table as if it were a tablecloth.

Doctor Doppler climbed through the entrance to the ancient fortress and gently placed Captain Amelia down upon the ground.

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" BEN sighed softly. "I find old-fashioned romance so touching, don't you?" He stated amorously to no one in particular. "How about drinks for the happy couple?" BEN randomly located a tray of _drinks_ -that were, to say the least, much more suitable for machinery- and he offered them to the hybrids.

"Oh, uh, ooh. Uh, no." Doctor Doppler stated politely to the robot. "Thank you, we don't drink..." The canine-human peeled off his overcoat and laid it over Captain Amelia's injured torso. "And, uh, we're not a couple." He added softly.

Captain Amelia weakly smiled up at the doctor while Ariah and Jim snickered at the two hybrids. Neither could decipher which was more ironic; the fact that Doctor Doppler had out-drunken almost the entirety of the pirate crew the previous night, or that there was some obvious chemistry between the captain and the doctor.

"Ahem." Doctor Doppler cleared his throat and he looked around the cavern. "Look at these markings." He observed the rune covered walls and ceiling of BEN's home and tapped his chin in thought. "They're identical to the ones on the map." The dog-man retrieved a spare handkerchief from one of his vest's pockets and he polished each of the lenses of his spectacles. "I suspect these are the hieroglyphic remnants... of an ancient culture."

"The Forefathers…" Ariah whispered softly.

"Hmm?" Doctor Doppler looked up at the young woman.

"The ancient race that once inhabited this place, were called the Forefathers…" Ariah explained. "Flint stole this planet from the Forefathers, after slaughtering the race, to use it as a place to store his treasure."

"But why in the Etherium would Flint choose this specific planet?" The canine enquired.

Ariah simply shrugged as Jim glanced nervously over the waist-high wall separating the cavern from its steep entrance; he kept himself armed with Captain Amelia's laser pistol.

"Mister Hawkins…" Captain Amelia ordered feebly, trying to sit up against the rune-covered wall. "Stop anyone who tries to approach. Oh!" She winced in pain.

"Yes, yes." Doctor Doppler turned to his stricken patient. "Now listen to me..." He stated firmly. "Stop giving orders for a few milliseconds and lie still."

"Very forceful, Doctor." Captain Amelia smiled, impressed by the doctor's slight change in attitude. "Go on. Say something else."

"Hey, look!" BEN exclaimed loudly, detracting from the interactions of the captain and the doctor. The robot looked over the wall. "There's some more of your _buddies_!"

The short robot pointed to a group of approaching pirates, whom were slowly climbing up the base of the steep hill.

"Hey, fellas! We're over here, fellas!" He yelled at the top of his voice, waving his rusty arms around.

The pirates immediately fired proton shoots at the android.

"Oh! Uh! Ooh! Oh!" BEN effectively dodged each shot, either using a surprising amount of finesse or he had astounding luck to avoid getting hit.

Jim shoved BEN out of the range of fire and began aimlessly shooting at the pirates.

* * *

"Stop wastin' yer fire!" Silver ordered to the pirates.

A quick plan formed in his head and he gathered his necessary effects.

"Hello, up there!" Silver waved a pitiful makeshift white surrender flag. "Jimbo?" He stepped into view as he climbed the steep hill. "If it's all right with the captain... I'd like a short word with yeh." Silver's mechanical arm was shifted into a crutch to accommodate his damaged leg. "No tricks," The cyborg reassured. "Just a little palaver."

Captain Amelia's ears folded back as she narrowed her light blue eyes in anger. "Come to bargain for the map, doubtless." The feline hissed angrily. "Pestilential... Ugh!" Captain Amelia groaned numbly in pain as she sank back down against the wall.

"Captain." Doctor Doppler's voice had a warning undertone in it. He glanced nervously at the brunette teenager.

"That means..." Jim sighed and smirked minutely. "That _he_ thinks we still have it." His pale blue eyes lit up at the opportunity. Jim stood from his place and looked out down the hill where Silver stood.

"I'm going with you." Ariah stated firmly.

Jim nodded slightly. "You want answers, don't you?"

Ariah sighed gratefully, happy that Jim understood. "More than ever."

Jim placed his hands on the top of the waist-high wall and glanced at Ariah. "Let's go…"

* * *

Ariah and Jim half-heartedly walked down the hill to meet at its halfway point, where Silver stood. Morph decided to follow them on the side trip. He was eager to see his master once again and had a general attachment to following the two teenagers.

"Ah, Morphy!" The old cyborg chuckled. "I wondered where yeh was off teh." Silver smiled as the carefree morph zoomed around him.

Jim and Ariah stood together, a few feet from the cyborg.

Silver groaned as he leaned against his mechanical crutch. "Ooh." He sat down on a nearby rock and placed his human hand on his mechanical knee tenderly. "Oh, this poor old leg's downright snarky... since that _game_ attack we 'ad in the galley." The man chuckled weakly, but his smile faded as he met the glares of Ariah and Jim.

The two teenagers gave the old pirate an identical look, one that told John Silver that they both hated that he had brought up the subject –though it had occurred only hours before- at a time like this.

"Ahh." Silver sighed. "Whatever yeh heard back there..." He started. "At least the part concerning yeh, Jimbo... I didn't mean a word of it." Silver admitted plainly. He glanced at his crew, who stood at the base of the hill.

Jim and Ariah stepped closer; ready to listen to what the cyborg had to say.

"'Ad that bloodthirsty lot thought I'd gone soft... they'd 'ave gutted us all." Silver sighed.

Ariah's gasped inwardly, as she now came to realize that her life was on the line too.

"Of course I'd doubt they'd do anythin' teh yeh, darling." Silver looked up at Ariah admiringly. "Yeh seem teh 'ave some sort of charm on the crew." He shrugged. "An' I can guarantee that a few of the crew would protect yeh, no matter what."

Ariah sighed forlornly. "Yeah…" She nodded. "A few." Her voice broke sadly.

There was one, who wasn't currently present amongst the quartet, that she knew would protect her, regardless of the cost…

"Spider Psycho…" Morph giggled, breaking the tension between the three humans with his kooky caricature of the arachnid.

Ariah narrowed her copper-brown eyes at the transformer and clapped her hands over him, silencing his antics for the moment.

Morph chirruped, shifting back to normal and sliding out from the spaces between Ariah's fingers with another fit of childish giggles.

Silver cleared his throat and leaned towards the teenagers. "Listen teh me." He formed a new plan. "If we play our cards right... we can _all_ walk away from this, rich as kings."

"Yeah?" Jim forced a smirk, feigning interest in the topic.

Silver chuckled, friendlily nudging Jim on the shoulder. "Yeh get me that map, Jimbo... an', uh... An even portion of the treasure is yers." He offered with a wink.

Jim scoffed tastelessly. "Boy." He shook his head. "You are really, something." He looked down at the cyborg coldly. "All that talk, of greatness... light coming off my sails..." Jim chuckled once more with the same uncharacteristic bitterness. "What a joke."

"Now, just see 'ere, Jimbo-" Silver interjected angrily.

"I mean, at least you taught me one thing." Jim angrily turned to the pirate captain. "Stick to it, right?" He narrowed his pale blue eyes and scowled. "Well, that's just what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna make sure that you never see... one drabloon of my treasure!"

Silver stood immediately from the rock. "That treasure is owed me, by t'under!" The pirate shouted furiously, his cyborg eye flaring to a bright red from anger.

"Well, try to find it without my map, _by t'under_!" Jim shouted back at the cyborg.

There was a lengthy pause between the two men. All Ariah could do was stand helplessly on the sidelines, waiting to see what would come out of the ordeal.

"Oh," Silver glowered angrily at the brunette teenager.

His voice was dangerously low with the same alpha undertones that had scared the crew into obeying him.

"Yeh still don't know how teh pick yer fights, do yeh, boy?" He growled severely. "Now, mark me." Silver narrowed his eyes. "Either I get that map by dawn _tomorrow_... or so help me, I'll use the ship's cannons... teh blast yeh all teh kingdom come!"

Ariah and Morph watched the cyborg with absolute shock while Jim glowered furiously at the pirate captain.

"Morph, hop teh it." Silver commanded. The transformer whined a bit. "Now!" John Silver yelled at the top of his voice.

Morph yelped frightfully and huddled behind Jim's shoulder. Ariah immediately snapped from her uselessness in Morph's defence.

"Leave him alone!" The young woman shouted angrily at the pirate. "Morph didn't do anything to deserve to be yelled at." She stepped in front of John Silver and gave him a firm glare.

"Watch yer mouth, Miss Clarke." Silver forcefully shoved Ariah aside -until she fell to her knees onto the ground- and then the half-mechanical man continued to hobble down the hill with the support of his crutch.

* * *

The old pirate didn't notice a small compass-like object fall from one of the outer pockets of his billowing jacket as he furiously left the trio on the hillside.

Ariah blankly stared forwards, thinking over what had just happened. Then she noticed the silver compass-shaped object. She reached for it and gently picked it up.

The compass-like thing turned out to be a silver pendant strung onto a thin metal chain, likely worn around the neck. But it didn't appear to just be a normal compass or any sort of decorative necklace.

The curious teenager turned the pendant over in her hand. After clearing away a bit of dirt, she noticed a small family crest on the pendant's lid.

Ariah sighed, recognizing the coat of arms from Silver's old family heirloom ship that she had once sailed on long ago: the HMS Aurora.

"You okay?" Jim placed a hand on Ariah's shoulder.

"Yeah…" Ariah concentrated on the silver object.

"What is it?" Jim looked over the pendant.

"I don't know." Ariah shook her head and examined the pendant. "Maybe it contains the answers I've been looking for." She cleared her throat. "But…" Ariah bit her bottom lip nervously. "I'm not sure if I should open it." She sighed, trying desperately to decide, and gave the pendant a meaningful stare.

"Um…" Jim stuffed a hand into the outer pocket of his trousers. "You want some time, uh, _alone_?" He offered, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly with his other hand.

Ariah inhaled deeply and exhaled. "I'd like that…" She looked up at the young man. "I won't be too long." Ariah stated with a weak smile. "Thank you, Jim."

Jim nodded in respect. "C'mon Morph." He gently motioned to the frightened morph to follow him back up the hill to BEN's home.

Ariah exhaled and gently pressed the buttons at the edges of the pendant, opening it.

The mechanisms within the pendant whirred to life, and a small globe of light appeared from the pendant. The orb began to morph into a familiar face as Ariah looked closer into its depths.

* * *

_"She's lucky enough teh 'ave survived out there in the Etherium." Silver's voice reverberated through the orb. "So, I suppose I should thank yeh for swing that boom back an' saving her life, again… Scroop." _

_There was no answer from the arachnid standing beside him. _

_The two sailors were on the main deck of the RLS Legacy, leaning against the railing along the port side of the bow._

_Silver sighed. "I just wish she'd wake up…" He cleared his throat. "It's already been a day, an' we haven't ever 'ad anythin' like this happen teh her before." Silver nervously wiped his forehead with the back of his organic hand._

_"With that much exposure to the cold," Scroop's levelheaded voice growled as he stared emptily into the mass of stars outside the ship's boundaries. "I'm surprised she didn't freeze to death."_

_There was a silence._

_"I assume I'm not yet off the hook for killing Mister Arrow." Scroop digressed bluntly._

_Silver's hearty chuckle followed._

* * *

_"Now, yeh listen teh me, James Hawkins." _

_Silver's voice echoed slightly as he placed his hands onto Jim's shoulders. _

_"Yeh got the makings of greatness in yeh... but yeh gotta take the helm an' chart yer own course."_

_Jim faced the cyborg, listening to his advice._

_"Stick teh it, no matter the squalls..." _

_Silver looked at the brunette teenager standing before him. _

_"An' when the time comes yeh get the chance... teh really test the cut of yer sails... an' show what yeh are made of, well…"_

_Silver smiled proudly down at the young man._

_"I hope I'm there... catchin' some of the light comin' off yeh that day." _

* * *

_"That was the greatest birthday present, ever!" Ariah cheered, despite shivering from the cold of the comet that she, Scroop and Silver had recently watched up close from one of the ship's longboat._

_"That's great, darling…" Silver lashed the longboat into place. He and Scroop had only just shaken the comet's snow from themselves. Ariah and the longboat were both soaked with the melting snow._

_"I mean," Ariah leapt from the longboat and smiled. "It was just so amazing!" She hopped around on the spot, buzzing with energy. "I wonder if we can still see it from the main deck." _

_The sixteen-year-old stopped hopping on the spot and speedily bolted out of the longboat's dock house towards the upper decks._

_Scroop and Silver simultaneously sighed._

_"We should probably get her before she freezes from the cold." Scroop stated. The arachnid cleared his throat. "By the way. Happy Birthday Old Man…"_

_"'Alf true, Scroop." Silver sighed, joining the crimson arachnid in the walk towards the upper deck. "I'm afraid each of me forty-one years are catchin' up teh me." He chuckled half-heartedly. "Does make me feel old, from time teh time…"_

* * *

_"Do you want me to tell her about you or at least your name?" A woman's exhausted voice asked with a shaky sigh. "When she's old enough?"_

_"No…" John Silver turned to face his lover. "I'll come back for her, in a few years, an' I'll tell her then."_

_"Promise?" The woman asked._

_"On me life …" The half-mechanical man swore loyally. "Keep her on this planet an' I'll find her; on me life."_

_The black-haired woman smiled weakly after a moment's pause. "I guess I should wish you a Happy Birthday, John." She chuckled. "Twenty five years…"_

_The cyborg smiled back half-heartedly. "Thank yeh…" Silver sighed quietly and his smile grew. "An' thank yeh for givin' me the greatest birthday gift anyone could ever give teh me…" His eyes watered proudly as he gently smoothed his human hand over his newborn child's soft forehead. _

_Then John Silver turned away and pulled on his overcoat; the right sleeve had been torn off to accommodate his mechanical arm._

_The woman sighed sadly. "So… you're leaving already?" Her voice broke slightly, as she tried to force back her inevitable tears._

_"Aye…" Silver sighed, feeling a harsh sadness well up in himself. "Crew's waitin'." He looked towards the door, unable to meet the light green eyes of his lover._

_"Aren't you at least going to name your daughter?"_

_There was another unnerving pause between them as John Silver stopped in the doorframe with his mechanical hand on the brass doorknob._

_"Ariah…" Silver stated clearly. "Her name's Ariah."_

_The door slammed shut behind him, echoing and dispersing the orb's image._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Read and Review so I can write some more!

**MG#6**


	28. A Back Door

**Author's Note:**

Thank you all for the excellent reviews! And thanks again to Whisperwings for betaing.

* * *

**Chapter 28: A Back Door**

Captain Amelia's condition worsened every moment she remained without expertise medical aid and sufficient medicine.

Soon the two men in BEN's hovel, still waiting for Ariah's return, sat by the injured captain's side, as the planet grew dark from its evening cycle.

The feline winced in pain as she tired to form some words to command the two sailing neophytes. "Gentlemen..." Her paws balled up from the pain that talking gave her. "We must stay together and- and- oh." The captain sat back against the rock wall, weakly closing her eyes halfway.

"And what? What?" Doctor Doppler feverishly demanded to the red-haired woman. "We must stay together and what?" He pulled of his spectacles and looked Captain Amelia hard in the eye.

"Doctor," Captain Amelia opened her light blue eyes drowsily. "You have… wonderful eyes." She smiled faintly as if delusional.

"She's lost her mind!" Doctor Doppler exclaimed, clutching his head.

"What?" Ariah gasped as she climbed back over the half wall into the cavern.

"Well," Jim looked at the dog-man. "You gotta help her."

"Dang it, Jim… I'm an astronomer, not a doctor." The frustrated canine-human hybrid stated blatantly. "I mean, I am a doctor, but I'm not _that_ kind of doctor." He tried to explain the matter to the confused teenager. "I have a doctorate." Doctor Doppler paced on the spot angrily. "It's not the same thing. You can't help people with a doctorate. You just sit there, and you're useless." He exhaled forcefully; his arms were limp at his sides, hopeless from the situation.

"It's OK, Doc." The young man patted Doctor Doppler reassuringly on the shoulder. "It's all right." Jim looked up at Ariah who gave him an odd look.

Then the brunette teenager noticed Silver's locket –of sorts- dangling around Ariah's neck, next to her makeshift necklace.

Ariah gulped slightly, sensing Jim's stare. She gripped the locket nervously, wondering if she should yet reveal what she had figured out –only moments before- to Jim.

Jim turned away, brooding over the main situation rather than clues to Ariah's past.

Ariah sighed with relief and fully entered the cavern.

"Yeah, Doc! Jimmy knows exactly how to get out of this." BEN exclaimed enthusiastically. "It's just… Jimmy has this knowledge of things." The robot turned to the young man. "Jim, any thoughts at all?" He whispered to Jim.

Jim sighed hopelessly. "Without the map, we're dead." He looked out from the entrance of the rock fortress. "If we try to leave, we're dead. If we stay here-" The exasperated adolescent ran his fingers through his brunette hair.

"We're dead! We're dead! We're dead!" Morph stated the obvious answer.

A feeling of dread overcastted the small group like a stifling storm.

* * *

Ben chuckled nervously, breaking a bit of the tension. "Well, I think that Jimmy could use a little _quiet time_." He cleared his throat. "So I'll just slip out the back door."

"Back door?" Jim's head snapped up and he followed the rusty robot towards the back of the dark cave.

Ariah quickly ran over to BEN's side, hoping that they could finally have a sliver of luck.

"Oh, yeah." BEN strained against a sphere-like dome, opening up a hatch. "I get this delightful breeze through here..." A beam of light rose from the opened hatch. "Which I think is important... because ventilation among friends-"

"Whoa…" Jim and Ariah exhaled simultaneously. They looked down the hatch at an endless expanse of wires, pipes and general machinery.

"What is all this stuff?" Jim asked.

"You mean the miles and miles of machinery that run through the entire course of the inside of this planet?" BEN asked. "Not a clue." He shrugged, unbeknownst that he had already answered Jim's question with his own rhetorical question.

"That makes sense then." Ariah looked deeper into the hatch. "Flint wanted this planet to store his treasure, because the Forefathers had advanced technology like nothing that anyone had ever seen in Flint's time."

"But if this goes through the entire planet…" Jim thought aloud, his pale blue eyes widened in realization. "Hey, Doc! Doc!" Jim climbed up onto the hatch. "I think I found a way out of here!"

"No, no. Jim, wait." Doctor Doppler looked up from his patient. "The captain ordered us to stay-" He exclaimed.

"I'll be back." Jim reassured evenly as he dropped down through the hatch into the depths of the planet.

"Cannonball!" BEN hollered enthusiastically as he dove behind Jim through the hatch.

Ariah giggled, climbing up to the mouth of the hatch. "I'll see you later, Doc…." She smiled warmly at the two hybrids. "You and the Captain should get some shut-eye. It's the only way that you're going to calm down and that the Captain's going to heal." Ariah shrugged. "Besides, we need someone with a lick of commonsense with those two and you need to stay with the Captain." She winked and dropped down through the hatch.

Morph immediately followed the black-haired teenager; because where the excitement was, was where he wanted to be.

"Woof."

* * *

Jim, Ariah, Morph and BEN scoured the interior of the mechanical planet, searching for the path to the base of the aforementioned robot's hovel, where the pirates were undoubtedly camping.

After opening hatches along the mountainside, the quartet located the pirates' campsite.

The pirates slept soundly, menacing even in there slumber. Because if any of them woke one of the bloodthirsty buccaneers...

"So, what's the plan?" BEN exclaimed loudly.

"Shh. BEN, quiet." Jim reprimanded the noisy robot, covering BEN's mouth as he pulled them back down the hatch.

Ariah double-checked to make sure that none of the pirates had noticed their disruptive companion's shout.

A few members of the crew stirred slightly in their sleep, but none of them fully woke up.

Ariah nodded, indicating that the coast was finally cleared.

"OK, here it is..." Jim kept his hands over BEN's mouth and he spoke of his plan in a calm, paced voice. "We sneak back to the Legacy, disable the laser cannons... and bring back the map."

"That's a good plan." BEN's voice stated, muffled by Jim's lingering fingers. "I like that plan." The robot gulped. "The only thing is... I'm wondering…" He cleared his throat, preparing to deliver a valid point. "_How_ do we get there?"

Jim carefully removed his hands from BEN's mouth to point at the hovering longboat outside the clearing of pirates. "On that."

"We'll have to silence the engine." Ariah stated shakily. "So we don't get caught." She cleared her throat gently. "Besides… it probably won't go so quickly anyways because of the lack of solar energy."

Jim nodded in agreement and cautiously pushed the fern-concealed hatch fully open. He pulled himself from the hole, quietly rolling into the surrounding foliage. Ariah left the hatch next, with Morph floating at her shoulder. Soon after, BEN left the hatch, as quietly as he could muster.

The quartet soundlessly replaced the mechanical hatch's cover and turned to the slumbering pirates. The last of the RLS Legacy's functioning longboats was only about twenty feet from them. The dilemma was simply that there were a good dozen of deadly pirates between them and the longboat.

Hardly breathing, Ariah and Jim slowly started the trek around legs and tentacles of sleeping sailors. BEN followed their footsteps exactly and Morph simply stayed cowering at Ariah's shoulder. Jim's body was rigid from concentration as he tiptoed upon the few gaps of cleared space in the encampment.

Suddenly, when they were almost at the side of the longboat, BEN stumbled over a pirate's foot. Ariah quickly turned around, catching the robot in her arms and clamping her hands over his mouth before he could make another sound.

The trio of two-legged companions froze in place and watched the disturbed pirate with held breaths. A moment before the pirate could open his eyes to see the robot and the young woman at his feet, Morph quickly zoomed over the pirate's ear. The blob rapidly transformed into a music box and managed to effectively lull the pirate back to sleep.

They sighed, Ariah gently set BEN back onto his feet wordlessly and they climbed aboard the hovering longboat.

Jim turned the engine's silencer on and shifted it into drive.

Ariah soundlessly unlashed the longboat from its temporary anchor and double-checked to make sure that none of the other pirates had noticed the disturbance.

BEN prodded Jim in the arm and pointed to a patch of ferns, it was slightly outlined and rose a bit higher from the ground.

Jim slapped his forehead… _there_ -of all places- was another hatch; which likely would've saved them the trouble of creeping through the pirate-filled clearing and prevented them from nearly getting caught.

The young man glared at BEN, who shrugged innocently. Jim duly noted the location of the new escape hatch and then he steadied the longboat into a silent drive. They slowly left the mushroom jungle, heading towards the RLS Legacy.

* * *

Moments after the quartet left, Silver opened his eyes. He –out of the entirety of the crew- had certainly noticed the slip up, but hadn't drawn any attention to the intruders.

The pirate captain had a keen eye for details and could cleverly connect events, which was the main reason why he was captain. Silver knew that the appearance of Morph during the parley meant that Flint's map was still on the RLS Legacy.

Now the cyborg could've simply obtained the treasure map and still gotten his way, but he knew that if Jim had the main bargaining chip that the boy was more likely to live.

One by one, Silver ordered his crew to wake up and prepare to ambush the likely abandoned hovel. If anyone were there, they wouldn't put up much of a match against the entire band of pirates.

But something dawned on the cyborg during his invasion preparations…

Scroop was still _on_ the Legacy.

* * *

Jim steadied the longboat into the dock house. He was surprised that the lower hatch on the hull of the RLS Legacy had been opened.

Once they had secured the longboat, Jim climbed out of it and looked around.

"OK, I'll get the map. You wait here." He ordered.

"Roger, Jimmy." BEN leapt out of the longboat with surprising agility. "I'll neutralize the laser cannons, sir!" The rusty robot saluted formally to the brunette teenager.

BEN's legs converted at the knees to wheels and the robot quickly sped out of the dock house to the main control panel.

"BEN! BEN!" The two teenagers yelled at the troublesome android.

_"Yo-ho… yo-ho. A pirate's life for me…"_ The oblivious robot sung out. He hummed to the tune of the song as he wheeled out of sight.

Jim sighed and Ariah chuckled lightly. She pulled off her solar glider, leaving it in the bottom of the longboat, and hopped onto the dock.

The two teenagers then they began searching the darkened room for the coil of ropes.

* * *

"Disable a few laser cannons."

BEN hopped back onto his feet as he entered the RLS Legacy's control room.

"What is the big deal?" He located the main control panel. "All we gotta do is find that one _little_ wire."

The android wrenched the door from the control panel and his luminous eyes widened as his jaw simultaneously dropped.

"Oh, mama." BEN gasped at the horrendous amount of coloured wires webbed together in the compact control panel.

* * *

After a few minutes of thorough searching, Jim located the coil of ropes and his hand brushed against the smooth surface of the map.

"Yes…" He sighed victoriously.

The young man stood back up with the map clenched tightly in his palm.

"Ariah." Jim called across the dock house. "I found it." He waved around the very real treasure map to prove his finding.

"Great." Ariah smiled warmly.

She walked over to Jim's side and looked curiously at the spherical treasure map, then back at the young man.

"Looks like all we've got to do is disable those cannons." The young woman stated.

"Yeah." Jim smiled.

The two teenager locked eyes and smiled mischievously at each other.

_'Well since BEN isn't here…'_ They seemed to read each other's thoughts and leaned towards each other for a kiss.

Suddenly, before either of the teenagers' lips could touch, the RLS Legacy's main alarm system was activated.

The sirens blared loudly and a bright red light filled the lower decks.

* * *

"Bad, BEN." The short robot scolded his self. "Bad!"

The previously marooned robot held the culprit wire between his fingers as he tried to locate its appropriate plug on the control panel.

"OK, fixing..." He winced and replaced the plug.

* * *

Scroop heard the ship's sirens go off and rushed towards the entrance to the lower decks.

Someone had actually _dared_ to intrude on his watch…

* * *

Jim shoved the map into his trouser pocket and ran towards the main control area with Morph and Ariah in tow.

"That stupid robot's gonna get us all..." Jim's eyes widened and his heart plummeted to his stomach as he saw what was obstructing their way to the control room. "…Killed."

"Cabin boy." Scroop's eyes glowed a molten gold colour and his entire body tensed up.

Silver wasn't here to order him _not_ to kill the intruders, which left the crimson arachnid with the leeway to do whatever he wished. Perfect.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Ooh… Showdown time!

**MG#6**


	29. To Lose a Friend

**Author's Note:**

I've been waiting SO long for this moment!

* * *

**Chapter 29: To Lose a Friend…**

Ariah gasped, noticing the dangerous look in Scroop's golden eyes. It was the same deadly look that he had given her on the night of their fight, and was now directed to Jim.

Jim took a step backwards; his arm instinctively came out in front of Ariah's torso in order to protect her.

This movement stoked Scroop's passionate fury to its peak and the crimson arachnid launched himself at the two teenagers with a snarl.

The two teenagers leapt back to avoid the alien's claw swipes. The pink blob at Ariah's shoulder squealed frightfully and swiftly morphed into a hand.

The transformer's hand gouged at Scroop's golden eyes, allowing the two teenagers some leeway to escape. The two teenagers bolted past Scroop and charged towards the exit.

Scroop swiftly snatched Morph from the air and tossed him forcefully against one of the corridor's metal walls.

The stunned transformer bounced minutely against the metal before he was siphoned through an opened-up pipe –often used as a means of communication between sailors through the ship- and he disappeared from visibility.

Scroop shook off the pain in his eyes and ran after Jim and Ariah.

Jim quickly retrieved the laser pistol Captain Amelia had given him and began charging it up. Jim turned to face the darting arachnid.

Before Jim could get a lock on the dangerous target, Scroop swiped at the cabin boy with one of his pincers. As Jim hit the ground with a metallic thump, Scroop's other pincer smoothly knocked Ariah across the hallway, away from the main fight.

Scroop leapt forwards, before Jim could scramble to his feet, and his crimson pincer clamped around Jim's neck. Scroop lifted the brunette up in the air so his feet couldn't touch the ground and he was unable to breathe.

All breath intended to feed Jim's vitalities their necessary oxygen was blocked by Mister Scroop's constricting pincer.

The young brunette feverishly clawed at the pincer, his nails doing barely any damage to the arachnid's thick exoskeleton and his feet dangling limply above the ground.

Ariah gasped, watching the nightmarish scene unfold before her eyes. She quickly scrambled to her feet and ran towards the two fighters.

Moments before Jim lost consciousness from lack of air, Ariah pounced onto the arachnid's back and clung to him. She wrapped her arms under Scroop's armpits, trying to force him to release Jim.

Scroop hissed loudly at the tightness in his shoulders, and he felt his grip on Jim's neck falter from the pressure points Ariah was hitting.

Jim limply fell to the ground, coughing desperately for breath. The brunette teenager rubbed his bruised neck and tried to fight off the daze with deep breaths. Jim then pulled himself back onto his feet, grabbing the laser pistol from where it had fallen, and pointed it at Scroop's torso.

The crimson arachnid simply continued to struggle against Ariah, who was frantically trying to keep Scroop's arms pinned to his back. The alien completely ignored the laser pistol aimed for his torso and Jim's presence altogether as he fought against Ariah.

Jim tried to lock on a vital point in Scroop's exoskeleton, to finish off the dangerous alien, but Ariah was blocking such points. Jim didn't want to have to shoot through Ariah in order to destroy the arachnid.

The young man then realized that Ariah just wanted the fighting between her two friends to stop, rather than help him finish off Scroop.

Before Jim could decide what to do, all of the lights in the RLS Legacy buzzed out simultaneously. A loud thud and a sharp gasp of pain followed the blackout, coming from a few feet in front of him.

* * *

"Whoops!" BEN looked around the control room.

His eyes emitted beams of light to help guide him around the now-dark control room.

"OK, don't panic." He calmed himself down as he located the plug in which the wire to the ship's lights was connected. "Breathing in, breathing out…"

BEN replaced the plug.

* * *

The temporary blackout was finally relieved as the lights blinked back on one-by-one.

Jim spotted Ariah sprawled back first on the metallic ground in front of him. In the darkness, Scroop had managed to flip her off of his back and then disappear from sight.

"Ariah!" Jim scrambled to the fallen teenager's side.

Ariah groaned in pain, and slowly lifted herself to her feet. Her back was aching again from the harsh contact with the floor. She steadied herself against the corridor's wall and sighed shakily. Undoubtedly she was injured once more…

"Why did you do that?" Jim exclaimed, grabbing Ariah by the shoulders and looking her hard in the eyes. "You could've been killed."

Ariah wearily looked up, trying to figure out some sort of answer. Then she noticed a stealthy arachnid slowly preparing to pounce at them. Her eyes widened and Jim turned around before she had a chance to cry out a warning.

Scroop launched himself at them. Jim managed to push Ariah out of the way and was pinned to the floor by the crimson arachnid's torso.

The laser pistol clattered to the floor, too far from either of the males' reach. Jim tried to fend off the viciously attacking alien while Ariah tried to recuperate from the many shoves to the ground. She of the trio was closest to the laser pistol.

* * *

Suddenly, they heard a high-pitched squealing through the RLS Legacy's piping. Scroop raised his pincers, ready to finish off the brunette teenager when a small pink morph unceremoniously was shot out of an opened pipe near his head.

Morph's eyelids were droopy from the labyrinth-like trip through the pipes but he snapped to his senses the moment he saw Scroop.

The transformer let out a loud wail, which effectively distracted the crimson arachnid.

Once Scroop faced Morph, the pink blob transformed into a cream pie and plastered his body against the attacker's triangular face. Scroop hissed angrily at the morph, trying to pull the filter from his vision.

Ariah quickly pulled Jim away from the dangerous arachnid's underside by his arms. Jim scooped up the laser pistol, hopped to his feet and grasped Ariah by the wrist.

The two teenagers bolted for the main deck while the arachnid continued trying to remove the transformer from his face.

* * *

Finally, Scroop managed to pull the entirety of Morph off of him and he shoved the blob back down the throat of the opened pipe.

The tiny morph zoomed down the piping and disappeared with a muffled shriek. Scroop then quickly ran down the corridor towards the main deck.

Jim and Ariah kept running until they finally reached the main deck. There was nowhere to go except up the shrouds of one of the masts.

They turned around just as Scroop skittered onto the main deck.

* * *

"This has gotta be cannons." BEN pulled a wire from one of the plugs.

Suddenly there was a loud rumbling throughout the RLS Legacy.

"Maybe not." BEN winced.

The troublesome robot tried to replace the plug but then realized that he had deactivated the ship's artificial gravity and began floating towards the control room's ceiling.

* * *

The trio on the main deck of the RLS Legacy gasped simultaneously as they began floating upwards towards the mainmast.

They all rose at the same rate and soon reached the mainmast's crow's nest without hitting any of the violently swinging booms.

Ariah grasped onto the edge of the crow's nest as Scroop latched onto the base of the flagpole. Jim managed to snag onto the pirate flag at the last plausible moment.

The laser pistol, which had been dropped during their run, was only a few feet out of Jim's reach. The young man then began stretching his arm out towards the weapon.

Scroop planted his six pointed feet in a concrete stance within the crow's nest, allowing his arms some freedom. With a malicious chuckle he began carving the sections of the flag's rope so it delicately came undone thread by thread.

"Come on, come on, come on…" Jim stretched his fingers out for the laser pistol. He only managed to swat it out of reach and it was lost to the Etherium. "No!" Jim exclaimed in defeat.

Ariah's heart sank as she kept an iron grip on the side of the crow's nest. She stared emptily at her friends, trying to pick between the two. It wasn't her choice to make, but it was strange to watch her own tears fall _upwards_ as she fought between the dilemmas.

Scroop snickered sinisterly. "Oh, yes." He narrowed his golden eyes towards the dangling teenager. "Do say hello to Mister Arrow..."

The inner edge of his pincer gently sliced away at the rope until there was only one thread holding the flag secure.

Jim quickly clambered down the pirate flag and grasped the end of the flagpole, rendering Scroop's efforts futile.

The crimson arachnid growled angrily at the young man and launched himself at him.

"Tell him yourself!" Jim yelled at the top of his voice, dodging the deadly alien and pulling the edge of the pirate flag over Scroop.

Scroop was enveloped by the black and white of the pirate flag. His red and black pincers tore a hole through the flag's fabric, but one only big enough to confine his movements rather than allow him to escape. The thread that once secured the flag snapped and the antigravity came into consideration.

The wrapped up crimson arachnid drifted off into the Etherium. He yelled out in defeat as the solar winds carried him far away.

"No!" Ariah screamed as she watched her best friend disappeared before her eyes. She lost her grip to the side of the crow's nest and began drifting upwards.

"Ariah!" Jim grabbed Ariah by the wrist and held tightly onto the flagpole with his legs and opposite hand.

* * *

"Back you go, you naughty plug!" BEN yelled.

He kicked off of the ceiling of the control room and replaced the wire.

"Oh!" The robot face-planted forcefully to the room's metallic floor as the RLS Legacy's artificial gravity was restored.

* * *

"Unh!" Jim crashed first into the bowl-like crow's nest and Ariah followed him. They both gasped fervently for air.

At the base of the vacated flagpole there was an opened pipe that was -at the moment- clattering with congestion. A dark, soot-covered blob was powerfully expelled from the mouth of the pipe.

The small morph coughed the thick layer of filth from his body until his exterior returned to its normal bubble-gum pink hue.

"Morph?" Jim sighed tiredly.

Morph chirruped, looking over the two teenagers with concern.

Ariah stood from the base of the crow's nest and leaned against the outer railing. There was a pause as she looked out into the Etherium bitterly, searching the skies for a sign of her best friend. When she found none, her arms began to shake from repressed sobs and her breath came out in jagged pants.

Jim slowly stood up and waited a moment before approaching the other teenager.

Ariah shook her head before Jim could say a word. Hot tears slipped down her slammed-shut eyes and her normally pale face was flushed from intense emotion.

A severe pain was welling up in her chest, consuming her entire body, and literally suffocating her ability to breath.

The young woman released some of the pressure through sobs. She gasped for air but was hardly gaining sufficient amounts.

Ariah gripped tightly against the outer railing of the crow's nest, her knuckles turned white from tension and her arms shaking. Her face began paling of all colour and she felt as if she was going to vomit.

Jim stood, helpless on how to aid the mourning teenager.

"I didn't want- either- of you- to get hurt." Ariah sunk to her knees and cried passionately into her palms. Her sides ached terribly -not only from her physical injuries- and she found breathing becoming more difficult with each passing moment.

"Ariah…" Jim knelt down to the young woman's level and he gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "You need to calm down, or you're going to pass out." He stated firmly.

Ariah grabbed the front of Jim's shirt and pulled his face towards hers. "I didn't want any of this." She shouted loudly, in the midst of her panic attack. Then the young woman began hyperventilating, still shaking from angst.

Jim's pale blue eyes widened. "Ariah!" He shook her by the shoulders. "You've got to calm down! Just breath!" He ordered.

"I can't!" Ariah shouted back, equally as scared as Jim was. "I-I can't…" She began to grow weak and a bout of dizziness swept over her.

"Lie down." Jim commanded.

Ariah hesitantly did as she was told, still panting rapidly through sobs.

Jim pressed his ear against Ariah's chest and he listened closely to her heartbeat. It was rapid, but lacked the fullness of a healthy heartbeat. Jim brushed his hand over Ariah's forehead. It was moist from sweat, yet cold to the touch.

"You're going into shock." Jim stated, having taken a course on first aid in years past. At least there was _something_ that had stuck from his years in school.

Ariah laughed weakly. "No kidding." She groaned as the dizziness and nausea increased.

"Here." Jim scooted over to Ariah's feet and lifted them up.

Morph quickly zipped to Ariah's feet, transforming into a pillow to support them.

"Thanks, Morph…" Jim placed Ariah's feet onto Pillow Morph. Then the young man sat by Ariah's head and gently took her hand into his. "It's going to be alright, Ariah." He reassured the panicky teenager. "Just… take deep breaths."

* * *

Slowly, Ariah managed to fend off the sadness that was trying to smother her and she gradually came back to her regular self. The nausea and dizziness slowly faded away as she held tightly to Jim's hand and did as he had instructed.

"I guess…" Ariah inhaled, paused and then exhaled steadily. "We should help that stupid robot with the laser cannons." She smiled weakly.

Jim chuckled; glad that Ariah had come to her senses. Then the serious matter of what he had done in moments past clawed its way out of his throat.

"Look." He sighed and avoiding eye contact with the weak sailor. "I'll understand if you're mad at me for the rest of your life an-."

Ariah shook her head. "I don't blame you for it, Jim." She slowly sat up. Morph zipped out from under her feet. "Scroop…" Ariah paused at mentioning her best friend's name and looked up into Jim's pale blue eyes. "He- he would've killed you." She looked over the dark bruises becoming more prominent around Jim's throat. "It had to be done…"

"I'm sorry there couldn't have been another way." Jim patted the back of Ariah's hand.

"Same here." Ariah smiled weakly.

* * *

The young woman looked up at the star cluttered skies for a moment's pause and then back at Jim with tears still in her copper-brown eyes. Jim guiltily looked away, but was surprised when Ariah leaned forwards and hugged her body tightly to his.

Jim sighed and wrapped his arms around Ariah's shoulders. One hand went through the raven-black locks tied back in ponytail as the other patted her back reassuringly. Ariah quietly sobbed into his chest as she held tightly onto him.

"I'm sorry…" Jim whispered softly.

Ariah lifted her head from Jim's chest and wiped the tears from her eyes. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Jim." She tried to hold back more tears, but failed, as she took a deep breath. "I'm just…" The young woman sniffled, "…going to miss him…" Ariah buried her face against Jim's shoulder, being careful to avoid the bruises around his neck, and continued crying.

There was a moment's pause between the two teenagers as they stopped to catch their breath. They separated the embrace and Ariah smiled warmly at Jim.

She plucked Morph from the air and gently stretched him, so he was almost rope-like.

Then she placed the transformer against Jim's neck, as if Morph was a scarf of some sort.

Ariah wasn't surprised when she saw Jim shiver from the contact. She remembered Morph's chilling caress against any bruises she had had when he was with her. It was undoubtedly cold, but at the same time, immensely soothing.

Jim looked up, locking eyes with Ariah and he smiled genuinely.

* * *

Suddenly, BEN's ever-familiar voice called up to the two teenagers. "Laser cannons disconnected Captain Jimmy, sir!"

The two teenagers looked at the short robot standing at the entrance to the lower decks, he was covered from head to toe in tangled up wires.

The android chuckled nervously. "Gee, that wasn't so tough."

Ariah sighed. "How many _other_ things did he disable?"

Jim chuckled as Morph zipped from around his neck to go aid the android. "I think the list of things he _didn't_ disable is shorter."

Ariah weakly smiled. "C'mon… let's see if we can get those wires back were they belong."

She climbed over the edge of the crow's nest and grasped the rope of one of the shrouds.

Ariah looked up at Jim. "We're also going to need to put something on all the new bumps and bruises we have..." The young woman paused to sigh. "This isn't over yet, is it?"

Jim smiled reassuringly, gently caressed the side of Ariah's face and planted a quick kiss on her lips. "Not yet."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks for the reviews ladies and gentlemen, and thanks to Whisperwings for editing!

**MG#6**


	30. Going on a Treasure Hunt

**Author's Note:**

Wow… thirtieth chapter. The big three-o!

* * *

**Chapter 30: Going on a Treasure Hunt**

"BEN…" Ariah collected the necessary items required to bandage both her and Jim's injuries from one of the many first aid kits located around the RLS Legacy. "Can I ask you for a favour, please?" She enquired.

"Why certainly, Ariah." BEN smiled cheerfully. "What's your request?"

"Um…" Ariah rubbed the back of her neck. "I need you to guard the longboat with Morph, and make sure that we still have time to get back to your home before dawn."

"Why can't we go now?" BEN raised an eyebrow.

Ariah sighed. "Jim and I, we…" She looked away for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain their injuries to the short android without alarming him.

"Right, right…" BEN chuckled nervously with a surprising amount of understanding and he walked towards the dock house. "You and Jimmy need to talk, so you wanna be alone." He stated with a salute. "Don't worry, Ariah, I'll guard our longboat and keep a weathered eye on the horizon."

Ariah smiled faintly. "Thanks, BEN."

"Oh…" The android thought for a moment. "I'll shout if we've got to leave the ship to get back in time."

Ariah nodded in agreement. The young woman turned around and made her way towards the main control room, in which she and Jim planned on healing their injuries and fixing the controls for the RLS Legacy simultaneously.

* * *

"Okay, I'll do you first." Jim stated bluntly.

"Might I ask… _why_?" Ariah raised an eyebrow as she sat across from Jim on a stool in the main control room.

"Because…" Jim started. "One: _you_ are the better programmer of the two of us, so you can program the Legacy while I fix you up." He raised a finger to indicate that he was not yet done his explanation. "And Two: You fell on your back more times than I did, so you probably have more injuries than me… which means you need to be healed first."

"Yeah." Ariah rolled her copper-brown eyes. "It was more getting _thrown_ on my back rather than falling." She shrugged and pulled out the jar of mint-smelling cream. "But fine, we need to hurry up anyways or Doctor Doppler and the captain might have a situation on their hands if the pirates notice we've taken their longboat."

Jim nodded curtly; preparing the bandages while Ariah spun around in her stool to remove her ivory shirt and red vest with her back to him. She tossed the garments at her feet and reached behind her to begin untying the knot to her older torso bandages.

"One question." Jim cleared his throat as he opened the jar to the healing ointment. "Who was the person who healed you for these?" He tapped the older bandages.

Ariah quickly thought of something off the top of her head that seemed plausible. "They were from _before_ this voyage." She stated. "I got into a bar fight at one of the spaceports and was sent to an infirmary." Ariah sighed as she pulled off the last of the bandages and dropped them to her feet. "Must've been a nurse who did it." She lied.

"Oh." Jim dipped his fingers into the ointment. "I guess I didn't notice them until that day in the brig." He coated his hands with the mint-scented cream.

"Yeah." Ariah looked forwards, trying to figure out the components of the circuit board in front of her. "It was a pretty bad fight." She grasped the wires and began plugging each colour-coated wire into its appropriate space in the control panel's circuit board.

Ariah tried to focus on her work, but a feeling of regret lingered within her body while Jim smoothed his hands over her back. The story had been true for another part of her past, but she knew that the unbound bandages at her feet certainly weren't from _that_ incident. The reason the young woman had lied was because she didn't feel like bringing up the subject of Scroop so shortly after his death; especially when that particular incident might have a heavy weight on the balance of her and Jim's bond.

Jim's fingers glided gently over Ariah's pale back, covering her with the soothing healing ointment. There were more bruises along her back than there were cuts, but what Jim was really surprised at the amount of faded scars that were along Ariah's back. It was evident that Ariah had had a rough life, much more than he had ever assumed.

While Ariah silently worked on plugging in the main control panels wires, she became conscious that Jim's hands were giving her quite a different sensation than she was used to. Rather than the smooth surface of two pincers circulating across her back, Jim's hands were noticeably different. Though the two healers had the same skilled and gentle touch to avoid discomfort, Jim's hands had a strange texture to them. They were calloused at some points, developed from all of his hard work as a cabin boy; and the crevasses along his palms, they same ones that palm-readers used, were noticeable.

The skin across Ariah's back prickled with gooseflesh as she paused in her work to try and regain her concentration. Yet Jim's hands continued spreading their strange sensation through her, while the young man massaged the soothing formula into her skin.

Ariah was finally able to refocus on her work when Jim had finished spreading the ointment and he switched over to wrapping her bandages. The moment Ariah finished plugging the last of the wires into the main control panel was the exact time when Jim bandaged her torso up to her chest.

Jim simply handed Ariah the end of the bandage so she could modestly cover her breasts.

Ariah smiled faintly… _'Maybe Scroop and Jim aren't so different after all.'_

Jim tied off the bandage and spun Ariah around in the stool so she could face him. He smiled. "You done with the control panel?"

Ariah nodded and looked at Jim. "What do you want done first; the front or the back?"

"Might as well do the back first." Jim shrugged.

Ariah sighed. "Okay." She scooted her stool closer to Jim's. Jim turned his back to Ariah and smoothly peeled off his loose shirt, wincing noticeably as it passed over his injuries.

The young woman looked at Jim with concern, then dipped her hands into the mint-scented cream and spread it evenly across her palms. Ariah looked over Jim's athletically built back, noticing that most of the bruises bunched closely across his broad shoulders.

Slowly, Ariah set down her hands onto Jim's back and began spreading the medicine across his bruises. She could tell from the development of gooseflesh across Jim's back that she was giving him a similar sensation as he had given her and could stop her smirk.

Jim clasped his hands together in front of him, trying to focus on something that wouldn't draw his attention to how amazing the feeling Ariah was giving him. He knew that they had to be off the RLS Legacy soon -though it couldn't have been more than half an hour past midnight- because Doctor Doppler and Captain Amelia's lives were at stake if any of the pirates noticed their missing longboat.

After a few barely self-controlled minutes, the medicine application was finished and Ariah began wrapping Jim's back in bandages. Thankfully, mainly because Jim was male, the bandage wrapping took less time and soon Ariah had spun Jim around to face her, so she could start healing the bruises around his neck.

Ariah dipped the tips of her fingers into the cream and gently smoothed them along the tender bruises. She monitored her every move closely, so she wouldn't inflict more pain to Jim; so close that there was hardly any distance between their two faces as she worked.

The urge was nearly impossible for Jim to resist. His fingernails dug into his palms as he tried to focus on the folds in Ariah's red bandana. This urge was equally shared by Ariah, who had to breath deeply in order to focus on her work.

The young woman finished applying the medicine and looked up into Jim's pale blue eyes. There she saw undeniable passion burning bright, and she knew that Jim could see the exact same fire in her eyes.

The two teenagers came together instantaneously; lips against lips, they held onto each other tightly. They both knew that they weren't going to consummate their relationship _all_ the way tonight, due to the little time they had... And they needed to be careful of each others injuries, now knowing were each was.

The control room seemed to heat up from the intense heat coming off of the couple's bodies. Ariah flushed up, feeling Jim's torso pressed against her own with only a layer of bandages on each to separate them.

Jim's hands brushed along Ariah's chest, causing the female teenager to squeak with surprise, but none the less share similar passions. Ariah ran her fingers through Jim's bangs tugging playfully at the end of his rattail while hugging him closely.

Never in her life had she such feelings… and she'd never been this close to someone.

"Ariah! Jim!" BEN's voice yelled feverishly down the corridor. "We need to go now!"

The two teenagers separated immediately; realizing the amount of time they had consumed. They looked up longingly at each other and allowed _one_ last tender kiss.

* * *

The astrophysicist had gotten a few moments of sleep, once he saw that Captain Amelia's condition was improving. But the dog-man's short period of peace was just that.

The stealthy pirates -that had managed to sneak up the mountainside unheard- soon invaded the small cavern-like hovel like a pack of ravenous vermin. The crew of barbaric pirates bound both Doctor Delbert Doppler and Captain Amelia in thick ropes and gagged them with bandannas before either of the hostages could dish out a decent fight.

The darkness of the lengthy night soon began to fade as the morning suns began to rise, colouring the skies above the planet's horizon in bands of soft hues. Dawn was slowly approaching, and the group waited for their prey to fall right into their grasps.

* * *

Jim, Ariah, BEN and Morph quietly landed the longboat back in its original position outside the jungle's clearing. They made the mistake of thinking that the pirates were still in camp because of the skilfully disguised bundles of clothing that wrapped fern leaves and other rude materials that resembled the pirates' slumbering forms.

Ariah strapped her solar glider back into place and looked around. The quartet secured the longboat and took their new shortcut back to BEN's cave before the suns' light could fully embrace the planet's surface.

Had they taken their normal route back to the first hatch, perhaps they would've noticed the pirates' true absence and avoided falling into the crew's clutches.

* * *

Jim was the first to climb out of the elliptical hatch at the back of BEN's cave. Ariah followed Jim and then helped BEN out of the hatch after her. Morph floated at Jim's shoulder obediently, chirping as he surveyed the shadowy cavern.

"Doc! Doc, wake up!" Jim shouted; approaching a shadowed figure, of whom he thought was Doctor Delbert Doppler. "I got the map." He pulled the sphere out of his trousers' pocket and offered it to the shadow. "Just look…"

Out from the seclusion of the shadows came a mechanical hand, glinting in the light from the rising suns. The hand daintily plucked the map from Jim's palm.

"Fine work, Jimbo." John Silver's voice stated as he stepped into the morning light with a leer on his face. "Fine work indeed…"

Ariah and Jim's jaws dropped simultaneously. They were absolutely stunned that the pirate captain was even in the cavern. They soon came to realize that he wasn't the only pirate who was present. The muffled yelling from the gagged Captain Amelia and Doctor Delbert, and the horrendous chuckles, indicated that the entire pirate crew was in the cave and had already gotten their grimy grasps on the two hybrids.

"Thanks for showin' us the way, boy." Silver smirked.

BEN yelped as Birdbrain Mary pounced on him, pinning him to the ground. "What's _this_ sorry stack of metal?" The two-legged alien shrieked loudly, looking BEN in the eyes.

"Not the face!" BEN wailed fearfully, trying zealously to defend himself.

"Yer just like me, Jimbo." Silver stated plainly. "Yeh hates teh lose." The cyborg chuckled sinisterly as he tapped at the map's buttons.

After a few futile tries with his human fingers, Silver examined the map thoroughly with the pincers of his cyborg hand to no avail.

"What the devil's the..." He attempted to compress the map, similarly to what he had done to Scroop's pincer only months before. The cyborg glared at Jim, who smirked lightly. "Open it." Silver ordered as he tossed the bright orb back into Jim's waiting hand.

The brunette teenager gave the cyborg a flat, challenging glare and made no move to activate the small sphere.

"I'd get busy." Silver shifted his mechanical hand into a laser pistol and pointed it –rather than at Jim- at Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler's heads.

The gagged feline shook her head in disagreement, while the gagged canine nodded his head in agreement. After noticing his companion's dissimilarity of the situation, Doctor Doppler shook his head against Silver's order. John Silver cocked the pistol, prepared to blow the two hybrids' brains out.

Jim kept glaring at the cyborg and tapped the treasure map's buttons, spinning sections of it coherently and unlocking the tiny mechanism.

From the moment he had learned how to open the legendary map, Jim had practiced the combination over and over again until he could do it blindfolded, in the dark; or in this case, staring down an enemy.

With one last click the map opened and a green light flowed from it. The pirate crew murmured in astonishment at the marvellous map. The light soon formed into a pathway, which flew out of the cavern's entrance and wove through the planet's dense jungle, as if leading them to something.

"Oh, the powers that be... Would yeh look?" Silver laughed aloud at the sight. He turned towards his crew. "Tie him up an' leave him with the others 'til we- what?" The green light retreated back into the core of the fist-sized map and all eyes were on its holder.

"You want the map... you're taking me, too." Jim stated bluntly.

"And by the way." Ariah fished out Silver's keepsake from around her neck and dangled it into the morning's light. "I believe you dropped something earlier, Mister Silver." The pendant's smooth surface glared in the light of the early morn, reflecting a single beam at the cyborg. "Lest I should release its contents to these fine _gentlemen_ I'd suggest that you'd take me along as well…" Ariah cocked an eyebrow slyly at the cyborg.

Silver pondered profusely of the dilemma. If Ariah knew the contents of that particular pendant then she knew exactly what to release to his crew. She knew to reveal how soft to the core he truly was... which wouldn't bode well.

"Hmm." Silver chuckled at the two teenagers' identical mischievousness and he smoothed his human palm over his stubble-covered chin. "We'll take 'em all." He stated.

Ariah curtly tossed the pendant into Silver's waiting hand and kept to Jim's side. She could barely meet anyone else's eyes as she brooded over the recent events.

* * *

The pirate crew loaded into the last longboat from the RLS Legacy, keeping each of the six hostages on a short leash, so to speak. They then began the heated pursuit down the pathway emitting from the map.

Jim and Ariah took turns dozing on each other's shoulders while the other held the map securely. The night had been doubtlessly exhausting and they hadn't obtained enough sleep since early the previous day.

They followed the heading produced by the map as far as they could by longboat until the jungle became too dense to fly through. The pirates then unloaded themselves from the longboat, armed with shovels and proton rifles. Ariah, Jim, BEN and Morph were allowed to join the pack of buccaneers while one of the more lazy pirates –Meltdown- guarded the tied-up hybrids.

* * *

Morph chattered nervously at Jim's shoulder while the aforementioned teenager held out the treasure map to Flint's Trove.

"It's OK, Morph… It's OK." Jim reassured the tiny shape-shifter.

"Jimmy, I-I don't know about you..." The skittish robot tugged nervously at the bottom of Jim's shirt. "But I'm starting to see my life pass in front of my eyes. At least," He grasped his head. "I _think_ it's my life." BEN concentrated furiously. "Was I ever dancing with an android named Lupe?" He hollered.

"BEN, sh." Jim hushed the robot. He looked forwards at the cyborg captain, who carved a path through the thick foliage with his cutlass. "This isn't over yet…" He wiped away a trickle of sweat from his forehead. The dual-suns surrounding the legendary planet had already heated up the exotic jungle to its unbearable warmth.

"We're gettin' close... lads." Silver seethed in anticipation. "I smell treasure a-waitin'." He laughed loudly and cut aside the last veil of vines from their pathway. "Huh?" Silver's eyes widened, as did the eyes of rest of his crewmembers. "Where is it?" He exclaimed.

The green light from the map ended right at the edge of an immense cliff, which dropped off into a deep jungle-filled valley.

"I see nothing!" Onus yelled. "One great, big stinking hunk of nothing!" His accented voice echoed off from the chasm-like cliff side as they stood by the jungle's edge.

The green light was sucked back into the map, which became virtually immovable.

"What's going on, Jimbo?" Silver asked Jim who was fumbling with the spherical map.

"I don't know." The brunette teenager strained against the buttons and mechanics of the map with his strength. "I can't get it open." He attempted once more, failing miserably.

"We should've never followed this boy!" Birdbrain Mary kicked Jim to the ground.

Jim let out a small grunt of pain as he landed against the metal ground; the thick moss that was covering the ground did little to cushion his landing.

"I'd suggest yeh get that gizmo goin' again, an' fast!" Silver whispered feverishly, trying to keep the crew at bay without having to fight them.

"Let's rip his gizzard right out, right now!" A rebellious pirate hollered.

"Throw him off the cliff!" Another buccaneer jeered loudly.

"No!" Ariah yelled. "You'll have to kill me first before you lay a finger on him." The young woman stated defiantly, standing in the line of fire with her arms out and blocking Jim's body from the barrels of a dozen proton rifles.

"Me too!" BEN stood beside Ariah in the same manner. "Is this really the right way to be going?" The robot whispered to the black-haired teenager.

Ariah smirked playfully but remained statuesque. Morph quickly shifted into a shield and three defenders glared at the mass of pirates.

"Three brats and a bucket of bolts…" Birdbrain Mary cackled sinisterly, motioning to charge against the poorly defended group. "No contest!" The crew jeered in agreement and began advancing upon the hostages, their proton rifles buzzing in anticipation.

"Jim…" Ariah whispered to the other teenager. "Do something or run." She stated.

* * *

Jim pushed aside some of the mossy grass over a nick in the ground and he discovered a trench with markings similar to the ones on the map. He pushed the sphere into the hole, where it fit perfectly. A beam of light emitted from the sphere, moments before the pirates' fingers could graze the triggers of their proton rifles.

The crew awed at the light, stopping in their steps. The three defending friends turned around, watching rivers of bright green light form under their feet. The plateau rumbled underneath them until the beams of light shot up into the air, revealing a triangular doorway that looked to be able to host an entire fleet of ships.

"Oh, have mercy." Silver exhaled.

"The Lagoon Nebula?" Jim and Ariah looked at the astrological sight right before them.

"But, that's 'alfway across the galaxy." Silver interjected, stepping forwards.

Jim looked down at the spherical hologram -that had appeared above the location of the map- intently. "A big door…" The young man prodded at a few of the locations to test the mechanism. "Opening and closing." He pondered a moment, stroking his chin. "Let's see..." Jim pointed at a planet situated at the far right of the hologram. "Kinapis." He smirked. "Montressor spaceport." Jim pressed the crescent moon-shaped icon and the triangular door revealed the familiar spaceport in which they had begun the voyage. "So that's how Flint did it." Jim realized. "He used this portal to roam the universe…" The young man pressed more planets along the hologram. "Stealing treasure."

"But where'd he stash it all?" Silver pushed aside Jim and began poking at random icons in the hologram. "Where's that blasted treasure?" He demanded. A few doors opened and closed, some revealing monsters from far off places, and others revealing the flaming asteroids of a recent supernova. "Treasure!" Silver childishly demanded. "Treasure!"

"It's buried in the-" Jim recalled BEN's earlier rambling. "Buried in the centroid of the mechanism." He thought for a moment. "What if the whole planet is the mechanism... and the treasure is buried in the centre of this planet?"

The pirate crew shouted excitedly, retrieving their shovels and zealously trying to dig through the solid metal surface of the planet. Their digging utensils soon became brittle and the heads of the shovels crumbled.

"An' how in blue blazes are we supposed teh get there?" Silver demanded.

"Just…" Jim nudged past the cyborg and pressed the core of the legendary planet's hologram. "Open the right door."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks to Whisperwings for editing, you're fantastic!

Hey, I just realized something that's kind of humorous. If I were using Roman numerals for each chapter then chapter 30 would be "chapter XXX"! Muhahahaha.

**MG#6**


	31. Tricked By a Dead Guy

**Author's Note:**

Oh… the end is near! But yet, not _too_ near… Hee, hee...

* * *

**Chapter 31: Tricked by a Dead Guy**

The crew watched with bated breath as the triangular door closed and opened, then they proceeded to step through the portal. Jim and Ariah were shoved forcefully forwards through the entrance in front of the crew.

"Wait for me! Wait for me!" BEN yelped, desperate to avoid becoming marooned again.

They walked out through a plateau and gasped at the sight before them. They were bathed in a golden light as they viewed a sight that was once only spoken of in legends… Flint's Trove. The pirate crew cheered loudly at the sight of the seemingly infinite treasure.

"The loot of a thousand worlds." Silver whispered to himself, his eyes shining from loot.

Onus laughed as he led the rest of the crew out into the mountains of treasure. "We are going to need a bigger boat!"

* * *

The pirates trudged about the treasures, ignoring their hostages while they admired and worshiped Flint's limitless booty.

"This is all seeming… very familiar." BEN tapped the side of his head. "Can't remember why…" He squinted around the loot of a thousand worlds.

"BEN, come on." Jim tried to keep the mindless robot on task. "We're getting out of here, and we're not leaving empty-handed." He motioned towards an empty vessel near the centre of the trove.

The two teenagers immediately took off from the metallic plateau –situated at the entrance of the treasury- and they began wading through the dense amount of treasure to reach an ancient ship.

"But- but, Jimmy! Ariah!" BEN clanked after the two teenagers. "WAIT!"

* * *

Silver knelt down in a pile of treasure, seeing thousands of mirror images of his face in the reflective surfaces of every coin and jewel.

"A lifetime of searching; an' at long last..." He scooped up two fistfuls of the legendary loot and look down upon it. "I can touch it." The cyborg's eyes glimmered; his long-anticipated dream had finally come true.

* * *

"Do you know what's strange?" BEN asked as he slowly began climbing up the side of the ship. "I can't tell you how frustrating this is, Jimmy..." The robot tried desperately to remember. "'Cause there's something just- it's nagging at the back of my mind."

The robot ended his sentence with a rather petrified scream, which caused the two teenagers to scramble up onto the ship's main deck.

"Captain Flint?" Jim and Ariah exclaimed simultaneously at the recognizable shadow.

"In the flesh!" BEN gasped.

The trove shed a bit of its golden light on the legendary pirate lord, revealing him to be nothing more than the skeletal remains of Captain Nathaniel Flint.

"Well, s-sort of," BEN rubbed the back of his head. "Except for skin, organs... or anything that- that- that _resembles_ flesh..." He winced. "That's not there."

BEN cleared his throat, tapping his chin thoughtfully while the two teenagers looked over the skeleton.

"And yet it's so odd, you know? I remember there was something _horrible_ Flint didn't want anyone else to know but -- just can't remember what it was." BEN gripped his metal head as he tried to think. "Oh, a mind is a terrible thing to lose!" He sobbed morbidly.

Jim's pale blue eyes widened as he saw what was clutched in the bony hand of the notorious captain, a small memory chip.

"BEN, I think I just found your mind." The brunette teenager pulled the chip loose from Captain Flint's skeletal hand. "Hold still." Jim began attaching the coloured wires of the memory chip to the coordinating wires in BEN's head.

BEN yelped in alarm. "Jimmy, your hands are very, very cold." The robot's conscious faded slightly as he fell silent, for once.

Jim stepped back once he had finished connecting the wires and he clicked the chip into place. BEN's head snapped back up as he regained consciousness.

"Whoa!" The short robot cleared his throat. "Hello."

For a moment, the teenagers feared that the robot who need to be reintroduced to them.

The rusty robot casually leaned against Jim's shoulder. "You know, uh, Jimmy, I was just thinking..." The robot blinked as he realized what he had said. "I was just think--" BEN gasped in surprise and his eyes brightened. "It's all flooding back!" He exclaimed. "All my memories!"

The android jumped up and down excitedly on the spot on the main deck of the skiff.

"Right up until Flint pulled my memory circuits..." BEN recalled his last memory stored on his primary circuit. "So I could _never_ tell anybody about his booby trap!"

Ariah and Jim gaped at the robot. Suddenly there was a crash from one of the overhead mechanisms as a cannon-like object plummeted from the treasury's ceiling and broke into the planet's core.

"Speaking of which..." BEN chuckled nervously.

The pirate crew, now covered with jewellery and other riches, came to realize the inconvenient situation and began retreating from the treasury.

"Flint wanted to make sure that nobody could ever steal his treasure..." BEN quickly explained. "So he rigged this whole planet to blow higher than a Kalepsian kite!"

* * *

Gold coins and other riches, worth more than entire worlds, slipped from the grasps of the pirates. Each treasure jingled melodiously as the proton beams of the planet's core began cutting across the surface of the trove as a hot knife would to a pat of butter.

Some of the unluckier crewmembers plummeted into the hellish core of the planet to their deaths while the rest ran for the exit.

* * *

"Run, Jimmy! Run for your life!" BEN grasped the brunette teenager by the forearm and tried to tug him out of the way.

The young man pulled his arm from the robot's grip. "You go back and help the captain and Doc!" Jim ordered as he crawled under the control panel of the ship. "If I'm not there in 10 minutes; leave without me."

"I am not leaving my buddy, Jimmy." BEN pulled Jim out from under the control panel by the boots.

The young man gave the short robot a firm glare as he held two live wires between his hands, intending to hotwire the skiff.

"Unless he looks at me like that." BEN chuckled nervously. "Bye, Jim!" The robot dropped Jim's feet and ran for the treasury's entrance.

Ariah knelt down to the control panel and pulled Jim out by the boot. "Let me hotwire this thing." She offered.

"You go help BEN…" Jim ordered, clambering under the control panel to continue hotwiring the skiff.

"Oh please..." Ariah pulled Jim completely from under the control panel and planted her hands on either side of his head. "If you're going to play hero and get yourself killed then I'm coming with you." She glared down at him firmly.

Jim looked up at Ariah oddly; confused by her statement.

"Besides…" Ariah pushed past the brunette teenager and pulled herself under the skiff's control panel. "I can hotwire this thing faster than you can say _'Orcus Galactacus'_…"

Jim stood from the treasure-covered deck. "_Orcus Galactacus_?" He raised an eyebrow.

"That's right." Ariah smiled as she scooted out from under the control panel.

The young woman hopped to her feet and curtly pulled a lever. The skiff's engine fired up and all was in working order.

Jim chuckled. "Did I ever tell you that I love you?" He asked, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head and looking at the black-haired teenager amorously.

"This would be the second time, Mister Hawkins." Ariah smirked and gave Jim a playful nudge in the shoulder. Then she and Jim began preparing the skiff for flight.

* * *

"No! No! Oh, no! Oh, no!" Silver clawed at the loot that was slipping from his grasp down the crevasses.

The surviving crew yelled for help as their fellow members fell to their untimely deaths through the ravines. The survivors then ran for their lives through the triangular portal.

"Come back 'ere, yeh blighters!" John Silver hollered to the retreating pirates.

* * *

An unnerving rumble was heard off in the distance from the RLS Legacy's remaining functional longboat; indicating that something was going wrong. Delbert's ears drooped, his wrists were tied to together behind his back and his back was to Captain Amelia's.

"All my life, I dreamed of an adventure like this." The canine-human stated and then sighed hopelessly. "I'm just sorry... I couldn't have been more helpful to you."

"Oh, don't be daft." Captain Amelia stated to him. "You've been very helpful. Truly."

"I feel like such a useless weakling..." Doctor Doppler held his head in his hands and then realized that he had slipped out of the pirate's poorly tied bindings. "With abnormally thin wrists."

The astrophysicist paused to think up a quick escape plan. He then cleverly pretended that his hands were still tied behind his back and he cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, brutish pirate." Delbert called to the only pirate left to guard them.

The fat dark brown-scaled pirate belched loudly as he turned to face the dog-man.

"Yes, you." Doctor Doppler inhaled. "I have a question." He narrowed his eyes. "Is it that your body is too massive... for your teeny-tiny head... or is it that your head is too teeny-tiny... for your big, fat body?" Delbert enquired.

Meltdown charged at the dog-man, chubby fingers balled into a fist. "I pummel you good!" The salamander hollered at the doctor, obviously noticing the insult.

"Yes, I'm sure you will," Doctor Doppler winced slightly at the volume of the enraged pirate's voice. "But before you do… I have one more question." The swift dog-man pulled Meltdown's laser pistol from his holster and pointed it barrel-first into the alien's large stomach. "Is this _yours_?" The laser pistol began to charge threateningly.

* * *

The skiff fired up, Jim was steering the ship and Ariah monitored the vehicle's controls.

"Yes!" Jim shouted as he turned towards the exit of the treasury. "We are so out of here!"

Ariah laughed in agreement, but her laughter was soon overwhelmed by an unambiguous chuckle that stopped the ship cold.

"Ah. Jimbo!" Silver casually stepped aboard the ancient ship. "Aren't yeh the seventh wonder of the universe?" He smirked.

Jim looked in the pile of treasure to the left of the ship's wheel and pulled out a golden sword, pointing it at John Silver's torso.

"Get back!" He yelled.

Silver glowered dangerously; the explosive flashes from the planet's core cast eerie shadows upon his half-mechanical face.

"I like yeh, lad…" The cyborg slowly stepped forwards, gritting his teeth. "But I've come too far... teh let yeh stand between me an' me treasure."

"Too far from what?" Ariah snapped, glaring up at the cyborg. "Too far from abandoning me and mom while _you_ went on a treasure hunt?"

She seethed angrily as she stepped into the space between Jim and Silver.

"Well, let me tell you something..." Ariah's eyes watered. "Growing up without knowing my father… it really sucked, and -now even though you finally have your treasure- you lost something… you lost mom."

Tears spilled from Ariah's copper-brown eyes and she kept glaring at the pirate captain.

"And I know you say that you gave up things to chase down this dream; but it wasn't only half of your body." Ariah stated shakily. "There was a chance of us finally being together, like a family."

Her fists shook as she clenched them tightly against her palms.

"You, mom and me…"

Silver was speechless, hardly expecting such an outburst from his only daughter. Jim gapped at Ariah and then at Silver. Morph mimicked this expression.

Jim lowered his sword. "He- he's your father?"

* * *

Suddenly, the treasure-filled skiff jolted from one of the proton blasts. The three passengers were deposited violently off of the ship; two hitting the hard metal of a small plateau while one fell down a crevasse.

"Oh, no, yeh don't!" Silver's mechanical hand grasped the side of the skiff, halting its approach towards the powerful proton beam.

"Jim!" Ariah screamed. She scrambled towards the edge of the ravine and saw Jim clutching to a mechanism at the opposite wall of the crevasse.

"Ariah, you've got to save yourself." Jim yelled over his shoulder to the young woman.

"No!" Ariah shouted back, reaching her arm down for Jim's hand. "I'd rather be incinerated with someone I love than lose another friend."

Morph chattered feverishly in Silver's ear, trying to draw the cyborg's attention to the teenagers in danger.

"What?" Silver turned around to see his only daughter reaching for Jim's hand. The two teenagers were hardly close enough to graze each other's fingers. "Jimbo."

Silver extended the mechanisms in his cyborg hand, so there was more slack to grip onto the skiff, and he edged closer to the drop off of the cliff. He grasped Ariah's free hand with his own human hand.

Ariah looked up at the cyborg nervously, wondering if he was helping her save Jim or pulling her away so they could escape.

"Go get him, darling." He ordered.

Ariah nodded and stretched out as far she could. "Reach for me now!" She yelled to the dangling teenager. "Reach!" Their fingers were only a hair's width apart.

"I-I can't!" Jim hollered.

Suddenly, the mechanism Jim was dearly clinging onto for his life became a part of the smooth metal wall and he fell down the crevasse. He only _just_ managed to snag a hold of the next mechanism, which was considerably further below the reaching young woman.

Ariah gasped, straining further. "I need more slack!" She stated to the cyborg.

Silver fought between the treasure that he had sought for his entire life verses friendship and the only family he had left in the Etherium.

"Dad, I need your help!" Ariah's voice pierced through the old cyborg's thoughts, snapping him to his senses.

"Oh, blast me for a fool!" He shouted.

The mechanical hand was released from the side of the skiff and he gave Ariah an appropriate amount of slack. Ariah lunged forwards and grasped Jim's hand, moments before he could drop into the hellish fires of the planet.

* * *

Gradually, the two sailors pulled Jim back up to the plateau, until he was safely beside them. Ariah hugged Jim tightly and Morph cheered loudly at their victory.

The ancient skiff, carrying the last of Flint's Trove and the remains of Captain Nathaniel Flint himself, was explosively blown to kingdom come by a proton blast.

* * *

The trio quickly made their way back to the triangular entrance of the colossal treasury, lest things should get anymore chaotic. The two teenagers helped the older man along while Morph chirped feverishly in panic.

"Silver, you gave up?" Jim looked up at John Silver with immense surprise while he held up the cyborg's mechanical arm.

"Just a lifelong obsession, Jim." John Silver sighed tiredly. "I'll get over it." He stated with amazing nonchalance while giving a careless wave towards the planet's exploding treasury. "Besides, now I've got somethin' worth more in the Etherium teh me than every last penny of Flint's Trove." Silver smiled down at his daughter under his human arm.

Ariah smiled back and then continued helping her father along towards the approaching tall ship. His cyborg leg was still damaged considerably and things were getting more hectic every passing second.

"Aloha, Jimmy!" BEN's voice called from the RLS Legacy. "Hurry, people! We got exactly two minutes... and thirty-four seconds 'til planet's destruction!"

Ariah sighed. "Great…"

* * *

"You're doing fine, Doctor." Captain Amelia instructed the beginner; who was commandeering her esteemed vessel while she sat helplessly behind him at the helm of her ship. "Now ease her over gently--gently!"

There was a loud crash as the RLS Legacy's starboard side crunched against a cliff beside the portal's entrance.

The now tied-up crew locked in the brig yelped in fright through their gags.

"We were better off on exploding planet!" Onus -one of the few who hadn't been gagged- whined frightfully.

* * *

Quickly, Silver, Jim Morph and Ariah climbed aboard the RLS Legacy and prepared to escape the raging hellfire of the once beautiful jungle.

"Take us out of here, metal man!" Captain Amelia ordered to BEN, who was now at the aft managing the main control panel's functions after tapping into the Legacy's system.

"Aye, Captain!" BEN fervently got to work. His original functions as a navigator came to him naturally and he fired up the RLS Legacy's thrusters from the main control panel.

* * *

"Captain," Silver kissed-up to the injured feline who sat at the helm. "Yeh dropped from the heavens in the nick of-"

"Save your claptrap for the judge, Silver!" Captain Amelia snapped curtly, apparently she hadn't injured her quick tongue in the longboat's crash landing.

Silver chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. Ariah sighed and glanced at Jim who smiled weakly. Doctor Doppler quickly lifted the RLS Legacy into gear and drove through the planet at maximum speed.

* * *

While they were flying skyward -ready to exit the planet's atmosphere- a flaming chunk of the explosive planet collided with the mizzenmast. Many of the mizzenmast's shrouds snapped under the tension and the mast itself broke in two. The mizzenmast fell, colliding with the mainmast and taking out the great pole.

The twin poles lurched to the starboard side, taking out a laser cannon and heavily denting the main deck.

"Mizzenmast and mainmast demobilized, Captain!" BEN reported urgently as he hacked into the RLS Legacy's main control panel. "Thrusters at only 30% capacity."

"30%?" Doctor Doppler gripped the ship's wheel fearfully. "That means-" The dog-man bit his bottom lip.

All experienced sailors knew what it meant. If a vessel's thrusters were at less than 50% of their initial capacity, then there was no way that the vessel –no matter its size- could penetrate a planet's atmosphere in adequate time. Albeit it was able to leave the atmosphere, but such time was spanned in lengthy hours rather than the few, dire seconds that they required.

"We'll never clear the planet's explosion in time." Doctor Doppler groaned morbidly.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Eek! And intense action sequence is coming up! Thanks to Whisperwings for editing…

**MG#6**


	32. Let's Get Out of Here

**Author's Note:**

Intense action sequences, HURRAY!

* * *

**Chapter 32: Let's Get Out of Here**

A feeling of dread came across the passengers of the RLS Legacy as they each thought of their imminent demise.

Jim thought for a moment, more on an escape plan rather than impending doom, and glanced back at the triangular portal behind them. Of course, why hadn't he thought of it before? Flint's portal could take them anywhere in the Etherium… and anywhere was definitely looking better than the present state of Treasure Planet.

"We gotta turn around!" Jim exclaimed.

"What?" Doctor Doppler and Captain Amelia demanded.

"There's a portal back there." He pointed to the triangular doorway above the precipice with its hologram map. "It can get us out of here!" Jim explained.

"Pardon me, Jim…" Doctor Doppler sighed calmly. "But didn't that portal open onto a raging inferno?" His calm evaporated as he shouted the words _'raging inferno'_.

"Yes," Jim climbed down to the main deck, hurried over to the site of the masts' crash and began dismantling the crushed laser cannon. "But I'm gonna change that…"

The young man pulled out a flattened piece of metal that was slightly taller than him from the wreckage and dragged it towards the starboard railing.

"I'm gonna open a _different_ door." He emphasized his point by slamming the metal board against the starboard railing.

"Captain, really, I don't see how this is possible-" Doctor Doppler looked at the injured woman sitting behind him.

"Listen teh the boy!" Silver hollered, hobbling down to the main deck to help the brunette teenager. Ariah followed him, intrigued by the contraption that Jim was attempting to construct in mere seconds.

"One minute, twenty-nine seconds 'til planet's destruction!" BEN called out to those who were still listening.

"What do yeh need, Jim?" Silver asked, limping over to the young man's side.

Jim pulled over an engine-like section of the laser cannon and placed it at the base of the propped up board. "Just, some way to attach this." He gestured to the cannon.

"All right. Stand back." Silver ordered, switching cyborg arm from a crutch into a welding flame. "Stand back, now." He warned Jim.

Silver cranked up the arc of bright blue-white fire and he fused the engine to the board expertly.

"There yeh go..." Silver switched his mechanical arm back into its regular hand as the white-hot metal slowly cooled off.

"OK." Jim exhaled, preparing to use his makeshift surfer. "Now," He gulped. "No matter what happens..." Jim glared determinedly at the cyborg. "Keep the ship heading straight for that portal."

"Fifty-eight seconds!" BEN yelled fervently.

"Jim." Ariah quickly pulled the leather chain from her neck. "For luck…" She stated as she placed it around Jim's neck.

Her copper-brown eyes were brimming with tears and she feared that she would never get to see the young man ever again.

Jim nodded briefly with a slight smirk. "We'll need it." He leapt off of the railing of the RLS Legacy with the makeshift solar surfer at his feet and blasted out towards the portal.

Silver sighed and turned towards the helm. "Well, yeh heard him!" He shouted. "Get this blasted heap turned 'round!" The pirate captain ordered.

Doctor Doppler glanced helplessly at the feline woman, who sighed.

"Doctor, head us back to the portal." Captain Amelia stated firmly.

"Aye, Captain." Doctor Doppler turned the wheel to the RLS Legacy and began following the speeding teenager.

* * *

Ariah thought for a moment and looked down at his solar glider's shoulder straps. She knew that her invention had too many bugs in it to be any safer than the makeshift solar surfer Jim had created. But perhaps it could be of some help to _them_, as the RLS Legacy still needed some additional thruster power to reach the portal.

She quickly scaled one of the few shrouds that hadn't been knocked off or incinerated by the two masts' collapse. Ariah grasped an empty boom, as its coordinated solar sail had been torn to shreds from the explosion, and she swung over to another rigging.

Agilely, Ariah climbed the riggings until she arrived at an area where there were some bare wires running the length of the shattered mainmast. From here, she could access the RLS Legacy's main generators. Ariah sat on a fixed boom and peeled off her solar glider.

She pulled on her work gloves and began modifying the solar glider so its power would convert into the RLS Legacy's main system instead of its rockets. After a bit of tweaking, Ariah attached the solar glider to the wires running up mainmast and lashed the invention to the great pole with a spare length of rope.

Ariah pulled off her gloves and tossed them aside, as they were now next to useless to control the altered solar glider, and manually unfolded the wings of her solar glider.

The solar cells of the glider's wings charged with the light energy emitting from the planet's core, and it began to function coherently with the RLS Legacy's system. Ariah smiled proudly and quickly made her way down to the main deck before some flying object could pick her off.

* * *

"Thrusters improved to 35.5% capacity." BEN stated. "Manoeuvrability increased!"

After implying the augmented chance of evading the flaming shrapnel, the bow of the RLS Legacy was struck, jostling all persons on the main deck and at the helm.

At this time, Ariah had just reached the bottommost boom on the halved mainmast. The unexpected jolt caused her to slip from the boom and land back first on the main deck.

"Ow…" Ariah grumbled, more from annoyance at her increasing amount of injuries than actually from the pain of the landing.

"Ariah." Silver lumbered up to his only child. "Are yeh all right, darling?"

"Yeah…" Ariah inwardly groaned. She took Silver's human hand and was pulled to her feet. The young woman rolled her shoulders. "At the rate I keep getting hurt, I'm going to get senile _really_ fast." She sighed.

Silver chuckled at his daughter's antics while Morph double-checked that the young woman was all right.

"Go to the right… the right!" Captain Amelia yelled to the doctor.

"I know, I know!" Doctor Doppler shouted back at the feline with equal zeal. "Will you just let me drive?" He demanded.

"Twenty-five seconds!" BEN hollered.

* * *

Jim weaved through fissures of magma and abruptly rising chunks of metallic terrain with amazing finesse. The blast of hot air kept reminding Jim of his objective and only strengthened his resolve to get his friends and himself out of this dangerous situation.

Suddenly the tip to Jim's solar surfer began to dip downwards as the rocket short-circuited. The makeshift solar surfer was falling towards a rather deep ravine.

"No, No, NO!" Jim's light blue eyes widened as he fell down into the deep crevasse. He was losing all power, and all hope.

* * *

"Seventeen seconds until planetary explosion!" BEN called out. The timers across his eyes were slowly ticked down as they edged closer to their demise.

Morph cowered frightfully at Silver's shoulder from the thought of incinerating.

"Come on, lad." Silver whispered under his breath.

Ariah gripped to the side of the Legacy and kept her eyes glued on the ravine where Jim had dropped down. Her knuckles turned white from the tension. "Jim…" She breathed.

The RLS Legacy continued its directed heading towards the triangular portal, which still displayed the hellish core of the planet. They needed Jim's help, or they'd all be doomed.

* * *

Jim plummeted down the side of the ravine, towards the bubbling magma core of the planet. The heel of his boot slammed down on the booster of the makeshift solar surfer to no avail; the rocket simply wasn't working.

The young man looked at the walls of the ravine. _Metal…_He glanced at the short-circuiting cannon and thought profusely._ Metal on metal makes heat and sparks… this model of the laser cannon is powered by a combustion engine; which means that it needs heat to warm it, and then a spark to ignite it._

With a yell, Jim slammed the back of the solar surfer into the side of the ravine. Sparks flew from the contact of metal on metal, letting out a high-pitched screech.

The metal of the cannon's barrel began to glow a bright orange as it heated up. The rocket finally fired up and Jim slammed his foot down on the accelerator.

The young man boosted himself out of the ravine and sped straight for the triangular portal at top speed with the RLS Legacy only just behind him.

* * *

Ariah nearly yelled with joy the moment she spotted Jim's appearance from the ravine, but then she realized that there was still little time to escape.

BEN counted down morbidly. "Five… four…"

Jim stretched his arm and managed to hit a small moon at the far left of the holographic map; the RLS Legacy was right behind him.

"Three…"

The triangular portal rapidly switched from Treasure Planet's detonating centre to the familiar galaxy's spaceport and they all plunged through the invisible field.

"Two…"

* * *

Just nanoseconds after the Legacy exited the portal; a massive explosion destroyed Treasure Planet, jarring the people on the main deck only slightly as the triangular portal collapsed upon its self.

They coasted through space from the waves of the explosion. Flint's legendary trove of a thousand worlds had become yet another asteroid field floating around space; glorified only by stories.

"Yeah!" Jim hollered in triumph, there were echoing cheers coming from the Legacy's upper and lower decks.

* * *

"You've done it, Jimmy!" BEN leapt up and down on the spot excitedly.

"Yeh done it, boy! Ha, ha, ha!" Silver waved his hat at the successful teenager.

Morph exploded into clouds of confetti and brightly coloured fireworks.

"Didn't I say the lad 'ad greatness in him?" The cyborg stated simply to the survivors of his former pirate crew, whom were all tied up in the RLS Legacy's brig.

The survivors cheered loudly, exhilarated that they hadn't been incinerated.

Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler hugged each other, paused to realize their forwardness and smiled as they then realized they didn't care.

* * *

Jim spun around and then grinded the railing of the RLS Legacy with the tip of his makeshift solar surfer.

The brunette teenager hopped off of his solar surfer, letting it fall out into space, and landed relatively gracefully on the deck. He merely staggered when Ariah ran up to him and gave him a rib-cracking hug.

"Jim! You did it! I can't believe it, but you did it!" Ariah laughed aloud.

"Guess you're luck rubbed off on me." Jim laughed weakly from the lack of air.

Ariah looked up at him with copper-brown eyes that completely radiating with joy. She smiled brightly and kissed the taller teenager fully on the lips.

Jim stumbled back -a bit from surprise- but gripped Ariah around the waist and spun her around on the spot.

There were some unsubtle hoots and wolf whistles –mostly from the last of the pirate crew locked below the deck- at the couple.

The two teenagers separated from their embrace and laughed heartedly at the close call.

"Jimmy, that was unforgettable!" BEN exclaimed happily. "I know you don't like touching… but get ready for a hug, big guy, 'cause I gotta hug you!" BEN leapt up and gave Jim a huge hug.

Jim happily hugged the robot back, ecstatic from escaping the booby-trapped Treasure Planet and certain death itself.

"Hey…" BEN yelped as he was set back down onto his rusty feet. "Y-You hugged me back?" He looked up at the brunette teenager with his wide luminous eyes. "Oh, I promised myself I wouldn't cry." The robot sobbed loudly. "Does anyone have a tissue?"

The two teenagers laughed simultaneously at the short android. Ariah stepped aside as Doctor Doppler and Captain Amelia came forward, to commend the young man.

"Well done Jim!" Doctor Doppler exclaimed, clapping his hand proudly on Jim's shoulder. "Just wait until your mother hears about _this_." He cleared his throat. "Of course we _may_ downplay the life-threatening parts…"

The brunette teenager chuckled in agreement; knowing what sort of reaction his mother would have over life-threatening situations involving him. There was a slight twinge of homesickness in him, he had had his fun on this voyage… but it was time to go home.

"Unorthodox, but ludicrously effective," Captain Amelia praised Jim. "I'd be proud to recommend you to the interstellar academy." She stated.

Ariah turned away, before she could hear the end of Captain Amelia's offer. Jim's future was working out perfectly and that was it. She quite simply wasn't in it, as she was still a pirate and would ruin the overall perfection.

* * *

The black-haired teenager walked towards her cyborg father. A pang of sadness filled her, yet she was glad that at least Jim's future was coming together.

Silver sensed his Ariah's thoughts, and decided to give her a future as he had originally planned. "Yeh don't need teh stick 'round with me yeh know, darling." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeh are just as free teh go with Jimbo as yeh are teh go with me." He smiled warmly, assuring her that she had the ability to make a future for herself.

Ariah smiled weakly. "But I'm not…" She sighed. "I'm a pirate."

"But yeh-" Silver began before Ariah cut him off.

"I'm ready to live a pirate's life, because I want to stay with you, Dad…" Ariah stated firmly. "And, if I go with Jim, I lose you." She shook her head and faced the cyborg. "I don't want to lose my father, ever."

"But if yeh sail with me…" Silver glanced at the brunette teenager. "Yeh lose Jim."

"No…" Ariah sighed gently. "I've left a piece of me with him…" She looked at the group talking with Jim –likely detailing the amazing future he had waiting for him- and she smiled weakly at her father. "I won't lose him."

"Come on, darling..." Silver motioned for his only child to follow him down the steps to the longboats' dock house.

"Wait." Ariah knelt down and grasped a small bag of golden coins from where she had hidden it in her left boot. "Just one more thing…" She stated.

Silver nodded and waited a moment at the top of the stairs.

Ariah walked over to the grated window installed in the ceiling of the RLS Legacy's brig and shoved the bag of coins through one of its holes so it landed at the feet of the nearest tied-up pirate.

"Pay off the judge." Ariah ordered curtly. "I don't want to hear about your deaths anytime soon." She nodded.

The surviving crewmembers looked up at the young woman with looks of mixed gratitude and confusion.

Onus spoke up. "Why would you do this for us, Miss Clarke?"

Ariah smiled weakly. "Because that's what friends do…" She stood up from the grated window. "They help out each other."

The pirates simply kept on their masks of confusion, granting a silent laugh from Ariah.

The young woman wordlessly turned towards her father and walked away from the grated window. John Silver beamed admirably at what his daughter had done and then escorted her down to the lower decks. Ariah carefully helped the cyborg, as his mechanical leg was still damaged.

Now was their only chance they had to avoid getting hung or arrested for piracy.

* * *

"And Miss. Clarke has much mechanical finesse." Doctor Delbert Doppler stated, remembering the young woman's manipulation of her solar glider into a basic solar sail.

"Precisely." Captain Amelia agreed thoughtfully. "I'm sure that she'd be an excellent candidate for Interstellar Academy's School of mechanics and engineering." The two hybrids looked around the main deck. "But where in the Etherium is she?"

Jim lifted Ariah's necklace from around his neck and looked at it in his palm. He thought for a moment and sighed. He had a hunch what they were doing now.

"I've got to go." The young man quickly bolted across the deck towards the steps to the lower decks; receiving odd looks from the two hybrids.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hark! There art one other chapter I doth see, la-te-da…

So thanks to Whisperwings for editing this chapter!

**MG#6**


	33. Tying Up the Loose Ends

**Author's Note:**

Aww… it's the final chapter already?

* * *

**Chapter 33: Tying Up The Loose Ends**

Ariah lightly leapt across the docks, untying most of the riggings for the longboat. Only three ropes remained tied; the two that would lower the longboat into the Etherium and one last rope on the longboat's starboard side, of which her father was untying. Ariah tossed the two duffel bags of effects, which she had rapidly collected on their short stop by the crew's quarters, into the bottom of the longboat beside her father's.

"Morphy, we gotta make tracks…" Silver sighed as the pink transformer chirruped sharply, as if scolding the two pirates. "I know." The old cyborg glanced up at his daughter who looked away and returned to work. "Listen… Ariah." Silver started.

"It's only logical to miss him." Ariah interjected. She shook her head and sighed. "But I know that I have to stay with you, Dad." The young woman tightened the longboat's position, so it wouldn't leave without them, and stepped from the longboat, back onto the dock beside her father. "Maybe someday it'll all work out." She smiled weakly.

Silver sighed and suddenly felt a minute prodding in one of the chest pockets of his lengthy coat. He extracted a crumpled bit of scrap paper and quickly examined it.

_'Thanks'_ was all that was written on the tiny piece of paper, in handwriting that was undoubtedly Jim's own. Wrapped in the paper was the tip of a fountain pen, slightly stained with black ink.

"Seems like Jimbo's left a piece of him with us…" Silver handed the piece of paper and the tip of the fountain pen to his eighteen-year-old daughter. "So we won't lose our memories of him." He half-chuckled.

Ariah looked at the paper and smiled. Then she examined the simplistic tip of the fountain pen with the same bittersweet smile. Ariah gently rolled up the piece of paper and fitted it into the tip of the fountain pen. She carefully placed the treasures somewhere where they wouldn't damage heavily and then got back to work.

* * *

There was a clomping of boots on the stairs leading down to the dock house, but the two pirates were too self-absorbed in their escape to pay attention.

"You never quit, do you?" Jim chuckled lightly; leaning against the doorframe into the dock house, there was a cocky grin on his face as he looked at the two pirates.

"Oh! Jimbo…" Silver chuckled uneasily. "We were merely checkin' teh make sure our last longboat was safe an' secured." He tied a clumsy knot with the rope he was holding.

"Mmm…" The young man rubbed his chin, concealing a bit of his smirk. "Well…"

Jim pondered, walking up to the longboat. He undid the knot with a short pull and quickly tied the boat properly.

"That should hold it." He looked up at the cyborg.

Silver chuckled proudly. "I taught yeh too well." He nudged Jim's shoulder friendlily.

Jim gave the two pirates a suspicious glance, particularly from the three bags already stored in the bow of the longboat beside Ariah.

"If yeh don't mind Jimbo, we'd just as soon avoid prison; Little Morphy here." Silver explained as Morph giggled. "He's a free spirit." Morph zoomed around Silver's shoulders. "Bein' locked in a cage…" The older pirate made his point by surrounding his mechanical fingers around Morph. "It'd break his heart…" Morph chirped sadly.

"Hey!" Ariah interjected. "What about _me_?" She hollered.

The old cyborg huffed. "Ariah, yeh are stuck in the middle of bein' exactly like yer mother an' me when we were pirates together..." Silver rolled his eyes as if he were stating the obvious. "Yeh'd figure somethin' out." He shrugged as-a-matter-of-factly.

Ariah groaned hopelessly. "Yeah, and I'd probably have to save you too." She scowled, sitting on the gunnels of the longboat with folded arms over her red vested chest.

The young woman was only _slightly_ surprised at discovering that her mother was once a pirate in years past. How else could Silver have met her mother?

* * *

Jim chuckled lightly at the argumentative pirates and then shrugged.

"I- I wasn't coming down here, to stop you." He looked at them and smiled sadly. "I just wanted a chance to say good bye."

Jim walked the length of the dock and pulled the lever to open the hatch at the tall ship's hull for their lone longboat. Ariah weakly smiled back at him.

Silver noticed the bittersweet look between the two love-struck teenagers. He cleared his throat to break the tension.

"What say yeh ship out with us, lad?" John Silver offered cheerfully, "We three; Silver, Hawkins and Clarke…" The pirate raised his hands as if the words were pasted on an imaginary billboard.

Morph rapidly zoomed over to Jim and changed into a three-pointed first mate hat, plopping himself lightly onto Jim's brunette head.

"Full of ourselves…" His eyes glinted thoughtfully. "…An' no ties teh anyone."

Jim smirked and looked up at Morph's visible eyes on the hat. "You know." Jim lightly picked up Morph from his head. "When I first got on this ship, I would've taken up you're offer in a second…"

He tickled Morph until the tiny transformer shifted back into his normal, gelatinous form.

"But, uh, I met this old cyborg," Jim glanced at his feet. "And he taught me that I could chart my own course."

The young man cleared his throat and narrowed his pale blue eyes determinedly.

"And that's what I'm going to do."

Silver smiled broadly, recognizing his own words of wisdom. "An' what do yeh see off that bow of yer's?" John Silver asked experimentally.

"A future…" Jim smiled back.

Silver chuckled. "Why… look at yeh." He smiled proudly, looking over the young man, whose body was backlit by the rising stars. "Glowin' like a solar fire." The pirate sniffed slightly. "Yeh are somethin' special, Jim." Silver stated. "Yeh are gonna rattle the stars, yeh are…" Silver opened his arms and Jim hugged him tightly around the middle.

Ariah walked up beside the two men. She beamed at them happily.

* * *

Silver coughed self-consciously, still mulishly trying to avoid his softer side. "Got a bit of grease in this cyborg eye of mine…" He stated as an excuse for his real tears.

Jim turned away to wipe away his own tears. Ariah giggled at the men's identical stubbornness. Breaking the warm, fuzzy moment was Morph. The pink transformer cried loudly until he dissolved into a small puddle of tears.

"Aww it's okay, Morph…" Jim cupped his hands around the transformer's puddle. "I'll see you around." The young man reassured. His thumbs caressed the sobbing pink blob.

"See you around…" Morph sorrowfully mimicked Jim's voice with a sad chirrup. The blob reluctantly changed back into his normal self, zooming back to Silver's shoulder.

"Morphy." Silver said in his commanding whisper. "I've got a job for yeh."

The tiny, pink transformer listened intently.

"I need yeh teh keep an eye, on this 'ere, pup." He glanced at Jim and smirked.

Jim looked at Silver in amazement.

"Will yeh do me that little favour?" Silver challenged.

"Aye-aye Captain..." Morph squeaked obediently. The transformer nuzzled Silver's cheek. Silver chuckled and motioned at Morph to go to Jim.

Morph zoomed over and licked Jim happily, like a well-trained pet. Silver lowered himself into the longboat with his hands on the first rigging.

"Yeh comin', darling?" Silver chuckled to his daughter. "Or are yeh going teh stay 'ere with Jimbo?"

Ariah scoffed. "I told you before, Dad." She shook her head in disbelief. "You're not getting rid of me _that_ quickly..."

* * *

The young woman turned to face Jim. There were tiny tears forming on the rims of her copper-brown eyes. She tried to clear her throat nonchalantly before Jim interrupted her.

"Aw… Ariah." Jim smiled to reassure her.

"I…" Ariah sniffled. "I never _did_ like good byes." Ariah smiled weakly and wiped the tears from her face.

Jim wrapped his arms around Ariah and chuckled a bit. "I'll miss you, Ariah." He admitted, holding the young pirate closely.

"I'll miss you too, Jim." Ariah hugged Jim back tightly. She buried her face against his shoulder and let a few tears slip from her copper-brown eyes.

The couple stood in each other's arms; soaking up their last moment together on this ship.

* * *

Silver fingered the rope that would lower him into the Etherium. He _could_ just simply go, right now, and let his daughter have a future with the man she loved.

But the old pirate had a feeling that Ariah needed him to be with her to be truly happy, and as long as he was what he was… that kind of future wasn't ready for her.

* * *

Slowly, Ariah raised her head and unwrapped herself from Jim's arms.

Jim looked up. "I'm giving this back to you." He held out Ariah's necklace. "For luck."

Ariah folded Jim's fingers over the pendant in his palm. "Keep it." She smiled. "You can give it back to me in person, when we see each other again."

"We _will_ see each other again…" Jim looked up. "Won't we?"

"You can bet on it." Ariah stated with a smile. "I mean…" She shrugged nonchalantly. "I need to come back _sometime_ to work on that pesky invention of mine… with you." Ariah giggled and gave Jim a quick kiss on his cheek.

The young pirate hopped down beside her father and smirked up to Jim.

"Now, don't you go and get married _without_ me, Jim Hawkins..." Ariah chided playfully.

"Well it's not like I can have an entire future _without_ you, Ariah Clarke." Jim stated with a smirk. "You've got to come back sometime to take up Captain Amelia's offer for you."

"Really…" Ariah tapped her chin thoughtfully. "For the Interstellar Academy?"

Jim nodded.

"Well…" Ariah brooded the matter over in her head and then shrugged. "Maybe…" She seemed hesitant about the thought of more years in school.

Jim's eyes brightened. "Head mechanic and programmer, Miss Ariah Clarke." Jim imitated Silver's enthusiastic billboard imagery. "Finest inventor in the cosmos."

Ariah and Silver simultaneously chuckled at the thought.

Jim casually leaned against the davits supporting the longboat with a sly smile. "Not that you _need_ a degree in mechanics and engineering to be the _finest_." He winked.

Ariah giggled. "Well, I've got to come back any way..." She cleared her throat. "I want to see what your mother thinks of me as a daughter-in-law."

Jim laughed aloud thinking of the many possible reactions that his mother could have to him marrying a pirate. "She'll be… surprised." He shook his head.

"Oh. That reminds me…" Silver pulled out a handful of treasure from an outer pocket of his coat and tossed it lightly into Jim's hands. "This is for yer dear mother, teh rebuild that inn of hers."

Ariah's eyes widened as she glared at her father. "You destroyed his mother's inn?"

"Well… it was the only way teh get Jimbo on a voyage, yeh see…" Silver explained.

Jim laughed at the arguing father and daughter, pocketing the treasure. "Take care of yourselves…"

The young man lightly touched Ariah's point of contact with his carefree grin plastered on his face as the two pirates lowered the longboat below him.

"You batty scallywags." He added with a chuckle.

Morph chirped loudly in farewell. Jim held Ariah's simplistically designed necklace in his free hand.

"Why Jimbo." Silver laughed heartily as Ariah opened the tiny solar sail and fired up the longboat's engine. "There's nary a moment when we haven't taken care of ourselves…"

He waved good-bye to the cabin boy as Ariah shifted the longboat into drive. She looked up one last time and smiled warmly.

"I love you, Ariah." Jim smiled.

"I love you too, Jim." Ariah stated.

The young woman then punched the throttle to the longboat's engine, and blasting herself and her father into the depths of the everlasting Etherium.

* * *

Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler then rushed into the dock house, moments after the two pirates disappeared from sight.

"Jim, what happened?" Delbert enquired, breathless from running through the lower decks. "Are you hurt?"

Jim shook his head, still leaning against the wooden davit that had held up Ariah and Silver's longboat. He looked over the necklace Ariah had given to him, his mind preoccupied by their parting.

"What happened to Miss. Clarke and Mister Silver?" Captain Amelia raised an eyebrow.

Jim smiled faintly, pocketing the necklace, his hand brushing against the treasure that Silver had given to him. "I let them go."

"Why?" The two hybrids exclaimed.

Jim shrugged simply and sighed. "Felt like something I should do."

"Oh bother." Captain Amelia cursed. "I was so hoping to get a programmer of Miss. Clarke's stature into the Academy." She frowned. "She had such a promising future."

Jim chuckled, easing a hand through his bangs. "It's strange what people will do, for the sake of family ties."

The two hybrids looked at him with the exact blank expression, both confused at this sudden rush of information.

Jim laughed aloud. "Maybe I should fill you two in on some things." He offered.

"That would be most helpful, Mister Hawkins." Captain Amelia stated.

Jim gave the opened hatch one last glance –spotting the minute glint of the longboat on the vast horizon- before pulling the lever and escorting Captain Amelia and Doctor Delbert Doppler back to the main deck.

This was the last of the two pirates and best friends -Ariah Clarke and John Silver- that James Hawkins would see for a long time…

But the story of their reunion, an explanation of why there was three duffel bags between the two pirates -when the extra was neither their effects nor treasures-, and the strange yet extraordinary adventures all of them were challenged with… is another tale.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

(Sighs) The story's finale… Thank you SO much to Whisperwings for loyally betaing!

It's been fun, so you guys keep rocking, and pop by my profile and check out some exciting news (if you haven't already).

**MG#6**


	34. Author's Bonus Chapter

**Author's Note:**

Because I'm practically stuck on the next few stories for this series, I've decided to write up a little bonus chapter; to outline my thoughts while writing each chapter and possibilities that went through (and some that didn't). It's almost like a summarization of the story.

Read it if you like, and hopefully I'll be able to cast away this writer's block for your reading pleasure!

* * *

**_Chapter One:_**

Ah… the beginning chapter; and the first I wrote without my incredible beta (Whisperwings). This chapter went through a long series of re-dos and alternate points of view.

Firstly I had to come up with a character, as this was the plot bunny I was going to follow, and thought of how the events of the original movie would play out with an additional character.

My first attempt was a young orphan named Amy Albany, brought up from childhood by Silver. I didn't really warm up to the idea, it didn't seem very original, as I was sure that I had seen the same sort of thing before in this category of fanfics.

A few of the original ideas from Amy Albany's tale did come through after I thought up Ariah. For example I was going to have Jim find an alien empress while on night watch and she would come between Jim and Amy, but instead I decided to use the alien monarch in Ariah's past as someone who would come between Ariah and Ortona.

Finally, I had cooked up the idea of Ariah Clarke and some of her back-story. I wanted her to be a young woman –eighteen years of age- and so I decided that in turn Jim would be eighteen years old as well, as opposed to his fifteen years of age in the movie (honestly, he doesn't really look like a fifteen-year-old to me…). Anyway, I find that you can have more fun with a couple of eighteen year olds, as they're at the happy medium between too old and too young.

Once I had my character ready, I went through some different ways of starting the story.

One of them (before I came up with the idea that Ariah would be a part of Silver's crew) was that Ariah would arrive at the Benbow Inn for a stay, shortly before Silver's crew would invade the inn. However, I didn't really like the thought, and kept looking for others.

Then I thought up I the idea that is now posted, took a liking to it, and began shaping the story…

I then went through the process of explaining Ariah's personality of adventurism, as well as her relationship with the other crewmembers in Silver's crew.

Thus, I ended the chapter with Ariah's new hope of an adventure; one that we all know is heading for Treasure Planet.

_Favourite part of the chapter:_ When Silver casually shoves Ariah off the bench in order to talk to Doctor Doppler.

**_Chapter Two:_**

This chapter introduces more important characters of the story, as well as the main setting: the legendary tall ship, the RLS Legacy. The chapter also prods at Ariah's past, as she's been on many a voyage before this one. I also went through a couple of re-dos to tweak the dialogue and content.

The chapter also reveals that Ariah's an aspiring inventor, something that I had thought of later in character development when I came up with the idea of the solar glider. The dialogue in the chapter also implies that Ariah's made several inventions before the one introduced in this chapter; some of which, were failures. As for the invention Ariah's tweaking in this chapter –bungee chord-, I thought of this after watching the movie once over and thinking about the lifelines in the black hole scene, Ariah's invention is likely the first step –in her opinion- to improving safety on ships.

During writing of this chapter, I was going over the first impressions Ariah would get from the two passengers –Dr. Doppler & Jim- as well as the one she leaves on them. It was more amusing to me -and more realistic, given Ariah's personality- to keep away from the love at first sight impression and sort of have her ignore them, as if they're tourists... which she does in this chapter.

And of course, this chapter introduces a more thorough beginning of Scroop's personality, and how it clashes instantly with Jim's. Having Ariah _accidentally_ break up the fight just puts the icing on the cake, as she has now ticked off Scroop at the same time as saved Jim.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _Silver's line near the beginning, "If yeh keep gapping at the ship like a Space Fishy, we're gonna 'ave teh carry yeh onto the ship with the cargo, Ariah."

**_Chapter Three:_**

Oh, the crazy dishwashing scene. I actually don't know where I came up with this idea… must've been some kung fu movie I watched a while back or something. But it tends to build up the relationship Ariah and Jim have nicely; like a friendly rivalry.

This chapter also introduces –briefly- the note of thanks that Jim writes to Silver, which seems too insignificant (and most forget about it) until the end of the story, when Silver finds it.

My original idea was that Silver would find the note from Jim shortly after the parley between him and Jim on Treasure Planet, and would realize the fatherly friendship he wants to keep with Jim; but I found that the trinket would be a little more meaningful for Silver to find before he and Ariah escape the RLS Legacy.

The trinket will also play a bit of a role in the sequel (as a little heads up) while Ariah is reminiscing etc…

_Favourite part of the chapter: _When Ariah throws the soggy towel and it hits Jim in the face.

**_Chapter Four:_**

Hmm… and of course after the crazy dishwashing scene come the crazy mast race, though its scenes like this that I'm absolutely gaga over (and fighting scenes, but _those _are for later). Anyway, this chapter highlights mainly on the rivalry between Scroop and Ariah.

Why have a race up the mainmast? Because it's fun and potentially dangerous, of course! This challenge was inspired by a scene in _The Pirate Queen of Ginger_'s Pirates of the Caribbean fanfic: "A Bet, Some Rum, and a Wedding". Its ending result of one day of slavery is also in there, I believe.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _When Scroop hits the last boom and everyone is like, "Ouch…"

**_Chapter Five:_**

This was a filler chapter, a decent display of the relationship between Ariah and Jim, as well as between Scroop and Ariah.

The dialogue in the chapter also prods at a more-than-friendly relationship between Ariah and Jim.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _Morph's kissing faces and his Spider Psycho bit.

**_Chapter Six:_**

This chapter is from one of my favourite Doctor Doppler moments in the movie, where a Space Whale sprays him with snot… I thought to extend that scene, as well as use it to develop Ariah's past sailing experiences.

This chapter also leads into the crash-landing on Winterchill –a planet I had made up long before the story was conceived, and wanted to use in something- which takes the RLS Legacy's voyage off its main course for a short while.

Hmm… at one moment: calm, then: chaos! Such is a reoccurring theme in the original movie…

_Favourite part of the chapter: _Of course, when Doctor Doppler gets sprayed with snot.

**_Chapter Seven:_**

The aftermath of the crash… It turned out much more magnificently than I had perceived (a lot longer too). It's one of the chapters that allow the characters to slow down for a breather and to think of what needs to be done.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _The cute moment between Morph, Jim and Ariah once they find Morph.

**_Chapter Eight:_**

And right after the short breather BLAM the stove blow up (what can I say? calm then chaos). But thankfully this mishap allows the story to shift settings momentarily.

The chapter also prods at the growing relationship between Ariah and Jim.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _The dialogue between Jim and Silver near the end of the chapter;

"Exactly, why is she mean to me?"

"Oh, I'd reckon, she's probably taken a shine teh yeh, Jimbo…"

"Oh yeah, 'cause I'm so obviously irresistible."

"Then again, Ariah is a woman. Hardly any man knows why they do what they do." 

**_Chapter Nine:_**

Ha. One of my longer chapters, and one of my favourites… I actually knew what had to be done in this chapter and there were a few scenes that I wrote up after posting the original which were: the fight scene between the gangsters and Ariah, Jim, Silver & Morph; and I also tweaked the dialogue between Ariah and the alien at the front desk of the Snow Burst Inn.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _When Morph turns into a fireball after eating some Volcanic Lava Bursts.

**_Chapter Ten:_**

This chapter starts off with a tender moment between Ariah and Silver through their conversation. Silver is trying to motivate Ariah to at least give Jim a chance. Ariah also goes over her insecurities about being unworthy of Jim because of her lifestyle.

Then we're back to the RLS Legacy where the programming scene between Jim and Ariah ensues. I hadn't been planning that Ariah would actually sing while programming, but found it amusing as she's having much more fun singing with Jim than she is programming. Ariah's talents as a programmer were one of the original things I had planned while thinking up her character.

And the chapter closes with the kiss. Ooh-la-la! I had to rewrite the scene before the kiss to get inside both Jim and Ariah's minds to see their thoughts… a bit of tweaking there, for sure.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _The last line, 'Jim touched his lips lightly, unable to stop the smile that came. They felt… tingly.'

**_Chapter Eleven:_**

Oh, the preparation chapter for the next exciting event between Jim and Ariah… one where Scroop prods at the relationship between Jim and Ariah.

Ariah also announces to Silver, that's she's willing to allow Jim a chance.

After Ariah orders Morph to have Jim meet her in the dock house -so they can test her latest invention-, she reveals to Jim some of her past; involving the death of her mother when she was young, and her fruitless search for her father.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _Silver's line, "So what is it that brings yeh down 'ere? Besides the food."

**_Chapter Twelve:_**

Oh-ho-ho! What a delightful event to develop the relationship between Jim and Ariah: testing a prototype of Ariah's latest invention. Packed with a lot of crashing, explosions, and a few cute moments.

And after the day is done, Ariah announces to the crew that the next day would be Scroop's faithful day of torturous slavery.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _(I've got a few…) When Ariah has fallen asleep against Jim's arm after testing her invention. Also the phrase; 'She would have jumped for joy, had she been on a flat surface.' Lastly, how Ariah nonchalantly brushes off the comments from the crew after returning for her and Jim's side trip.

**_Chapter Thirteen:_**

Man, I believe this chapter took a while to write, and not only because I was waiting for a few readers to suggest some things for our unfortunate arachnid to do, but also because I think it was over the Christmas holidays or something, and I had no time to write.

Anyway, I loved this chapter… Actually I wrote most of the next chapter before this one, and used this one as foreshadowing for Ariah's injuries.

I also went through a bunch of rewrites, to add more scenes of Scroop's trails and errors, to build up or improve dialogue, as well as to add more scenes featuring Ariah, usually with either Scroop or Jim.

Ariah also reveals to Jim of how she became acquainted with Silver and Scroop, and the fact that she still thinks of Scroop as a best friend despite the rivalry between them.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _When the fat alien launches Scroop out of a laser cannon.

**_Chapter Fourteen:_**

As I said before, this chapter was partially completed before the previous one… mainly it was just the last scene, between Scroop and Ariah, however as I wrote chapter thirteen I felt that a few more scenes would be needed in this one to have a whole day of slavery. Besides, that way it's so much more fun!

This chapter definitely focuses on the relationship between Scroop and Ariah, to say the least. I did a lot of tweaking of scenes and dialogue between the two characters to show this development, especially in the rewrites after the first original posting.

I was also debating whether Scroop's day of slavery would lead into the black hole scene (as Jim doesn't have to do his cabin boy duties, therefore he could go on a side trip with Silver), but decided to wait until later before I would do the black hole scene.

_Favourite part of the chapter:_ Actually, this chapter is one (of many) that are my favourites in this story, so I'll have a lot of favourite parts… I like when Ariah sleeps in the galley, when Scroop heals Ariah, and when Ariah gives Scroop a hug. Also, I like the cute moment of Morph and Jim sleeping at the bow's netting.

**_Chapter Fifteen:_**

The aftermath of Scroop's day of slavery… where Ariah reveals that she's created yet another invention that connects with her previous one. It would seem that things are back to normal.

I had basically only planned the ending of the chapter, where Morph forces Ariah and Jim to kiss, but hadn't thought of the deep conversation where Ariah reveals her past lover. I think that's probably because I hadn't thought of him at that point in time.

This chapter definitely kicks up Jim and Ariah's relationship another notch, and reveals some of Scroop's true feelings about said relationship.

_Favourite part of the chapter:_ Morph's evilness!

**_Chapter Sixteen:_**

This chapter was mainly an experiment that I wanted to write of Scroop and Ariah fighting against one another under more violent terms.

Also, in this chapter, there's much development of Ariah's past in the dialogue between Jim and Silver.

I did a few rewrites of the fighting scene after the original post; really I just wanted to add more action, to put bluntly.

I also brooded over if I wanted Scroop to go into the brig as well, however, seeing as Scroop is required immediately in the black hole scene –to kill off Mister Arrow- and I didn't want him to be involved with the scene between Ariah and Jim in the brig, I dropped the thought.

_Favourite part of the chapter:_ The fight, I love writing fighting scenes…

**_Chapter Seventeen:_**

The section of the chapter, between Jim and Ariah, was that I had planned, as I wanted Ariah to be in the brig before the black hole scene and up their relationship a little more. The scene also explains –in more detail- of Ariah past involving herself and Gordon Ortona.

The last bit of the chapter leads towards the events in the movie, reminding us that the voyage to Treasure Planet is still nigh.

_Favourite part of the chapter:_ The kiss, duh!

**_Chapter Eighteen:_**

Aha! The black hole scene… Loved this part of the movie, very dramatic and suspenseful.

But before chaos ensues, we've got to sing! And yes, I pretty much made up Ariah's song about Pink Space Whales on the spot, but had to work with a tune based on a camp song, so it wasn't just a jumble of words. This song actually lead into a nice bit of Ariah's reminiscing about her childhood, which worked.

Now we can have the chaos… I decided to have Ariah bust herself out of the brig, as she's an inventor, right when she feels that she'd be needed (and also because she wants some action); and how many times do you come across a super nova star that descends into a black hole? –Methinks, not often…

I decided to add the part about Ariah getting hit by the solar sail boom mainly because _Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl_ and _Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World_ inspired me to do so with similar scenes. I also needed some way to give Ariah a surprising reintroduction to Captain Amelia and the crew when most of them think that she's in the brig.

_Favourite part of the chapter:_ I actually enjoyed writing the bit about Ariah enduring the cold of space, her motivation to keep helping the crew, her morbid thoughts, even her fleeting hope that someone would hear her. It isn't until later when we find out who answered her soundless plea.

**_Chapter Nineteen:_**

This chapter is another of those stop-and-take-a-breather chapters, and it also develops Ariah's relationships with Jim, Scroop and Silver nicely.

I found that it was more interesting to have Ariah recover a few days after Mister Arrow's death, and to have her placed in his room. A new environment, and the timing allowed everyone to cool off from the black hole crisis and get back to normal (thus Captain Amelia's decision to have Ariah as a scullery maid).

_Favourite part of the chapter:_ Ariah's Femme Fatale performance.

**_Chapter Twenty:_**

And now things have returned back to normal on the ship… this time, Jim and Ariah have the pleasure of working together, full time.

Later on, I found that Ariah should have a nightmare, not entirely because I'm mean to the poor lass, however, because I wanted to hint at some of her past, as well as develop more of her relationship with Silver. Once again, she's confiding in Silver with her new insecurities and fears from her near-death experience.

Then we have some more scenes between Ariah and Jim, and we get to see inside Scroop's mind (once again) about his thoughts on the aforementioned relationship.

While Scroop is taking Silver aside for a little discussion, Ariah reveals to Jim that she's not actually mad at Scroop for getting her sent to the brig; and she's slightly connected the dots to hypothesize that the guy likes her more than a friend. Believe me; that dialogue went through quite a bit of tweaking…

_Favourite part of the chapter: _Mini Ariah and Mini Jim's dancing scene.

**_Chapter Twenty-One:_**

Oh, and now one of many shattering truths is set down upon Jim: his archenemy likes the woman he likes. We also get an inside look of Scroop and Silver's discussion in the dock house about his thoughts of Jim and Ariah's relationship. He's concerned that Ariah's going to be hurt if they follow through with the mutiny, which they've been keeping a secret from Ariah for every voyage they've had with the crew, so he wants Silver to let it her off of the relationship slowly.

And by gosh, Scroop's actually convince Silver of something, that is, until he gets his senses together. But for the time being, Ariah and Jim are given separate duties, and Silver uses this time alone with Jim to try and convince him to simmer it down with Ariah; though Jim believes that he might be falling for Ariah.

Meanwhile, Ariah's scrapping space barnacles from the helm and nearly falls overboard. Again. But she seems to have an epiphany on putting herself in other's places and begins to assess her thoughts.

And now, Silver's mind is set, he's going to tell Scroop that they'll let Ariah go and have a future. Silver then pushes aside the matter -for the time being- to plan what they'll do in preparations for the mutiny.

Scroop then finishes, implying that there're more secrets that they've been keeping from Ariah, that have yet to be revealed.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _When the space barnacles are conveniently blown off the helm by the irregular solar winds.

**_Chapter Twenty-Two:_**

And now… we party! Drinking, rowdiness, and more drinking… It's a sailor's dream!

Anyway, this chapter's a good focus on Ariah and Jim's relationship, as it happens to hit a very rough spot at the conclusion of the chapter.

As for the celebration, I figured something was worth partying on the ship, at least to get Doctor Doppler drunk, and having the pirates use it -as leverage to acquire the bearings of the voyage- is quite humorous. Oh yeah, and such rowdiness from the party would be a good cover so they wouldn't hear Jim and Ariah's heated argument through the walls.

This chapter dabbles in a bit of history (hence, the celebration); some odd little facts (for example: alcohol is toxic to morphs); Ariah's past, about the voyages she's attended; and introduces some more characters in the crew, well at least Mister Gillis.

Oh, and the most difficult think to write was the end of the chapter. It was the argument between Ariah and Jim that took the most rewrites and discussions between me and my beta to get it right.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _The fact that Doctor Delbert Doppler can hold his drinks so well, the guy must have some crazy metabolism or something. Maybe he has immunity to the affects of alcohol; who knows?

**_Chapter Twenty-Three:_**

Now it's time for Morph to save the day, as he goes to find Silver, because Silver knows everything! And now Silver's actually wondering if Scroop was right all along... It's also clear between the two teenagers' thoughts that they regret saying what they had said.

It only takes a little bit of convincing after telling Silver her feelings to get Ariah back on track. So while Ariah is going to tell Jim that she's sorry and loves him, Scroop tells Silver that they are actually going to Flint's Trove.

And after revealing their feelings with loads of cheesy lines and all that jazz, Jim and Ariah's relationship has leapt out of its rut to a new high. Then they leave the scene to go party.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _When Ariah runs out of the crew's quarters and rams into Scroop, gets up, tells him that she's in love, and continues on running.

**_Chapter Twenty-Four:_**

Oh dear, another of the shattering truths that both Jim and Ariah have to handle. But first, Ariah and Morph are going to watch some funky rainbows, then play a little prank on Jim, to spice things up.

This chapter also gets back to the movie's original storyline, and is the start off to a faster pace in the story (as it's drawing to an end). This chapter mainly took a while because I had a temporary mind blank on the conversation between Silver and his crew, so I watched the movie to refresh my memory.

I had to work out some things in this chapter, debating whether either Jim or Ariah should be discovered, and where Ariah should hide. But I decided to stay true to the movie, and figured that the pantry would be the ideal hiding place.

And the argument between Silver and his crew happens to end at the first sign of the legendary Treasure Planet, upping the ante…

_Favourite part of the chapter: _Jim's ungraceful behaviour (ex. face-planting at the foot of the stairs in the galley, falling out of bed etc.); and Morph and Ariah's antics.

**_Chapter Twenty-Five:_**

Oh and now things are getting intense, the cat's out of the bag and the two teenagers are faced with the naked truth. I had to tweak the dialogue near the beginning of the chapter from the original posting to get some more emotion and tension. And it isn't until Jim and Ariah escape the confrontation against Silver in the mess hall that really lights the powder keg.

Finally, after escaping one angry cyborg, Ariah and Jim warn Doctor Doppler and Captain Amelia of the ordeal and head for the longboats with due haste.

Oh and just to put the icing on the cake, when the group eventually manages to escape in one of the longboats, they are hit by a proton blast and crash land into the jungle. Back on the Legacy, Silver and Scroop were both actually trying to stop the blast from hitting the boat. Scroop's reason, because Ariah's on the boat… Silver's reason –probably internally that he didn't want Ariah or Jim to be injured-, but he states that it's because the aforementioned teenagers still have the treasure map.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _When Jim and Silver are trying to sweet-talk Morph into giving them the map, and Doctor Doppler's use of proton rifles.

**_Chapter Twenty-Six:_**

Hurray, and the last –but not least- character to introduce to the story gets introduced into this chapter: BEN! Oh but first our pair of teenagers must scout out to find him, hear his tale and discover his quirks, before actually obtaining something worth while from him.

And what's worst? Well, the pirates are closing in, they actually don't have the real treasure map (which has been left on the Legacy), and Captain Amelia's injured to the point where she's having difficulties walking. Hee… hee… that's not good.

We've also got a little look at Scroop's thoughts as he's left alone on the RLS Legacy and get to see Ariah reveal that she's nearing her breaking point with what has gone over the past few hours.

But thankfully, at the end of the chapter, something in that chaotic day seems to be going right.

_Favourite part of the chapter:_ When Ariah senses the awkward moment between Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler and decides that she'll go help Jim.

**_Chapter Twenty-Seven:_**

Oh boy, here it is the big truth that Ariah has to face on her own. But first, a confrontation between Jim, Ariah and Silver needs to happen in order for Ariah to acquire the key to revealing a locked away secret from her past.

The idea of using a pendant to reveal that Silver is Ariah's father came to me after seeing the memory pendant that Sarah Hawkins has.

As for the scenes in the pendant, I decided to put them in chronological order, from most recent to farther in the past. I also went through a few cuts at scenes that could have been involved in the flashbacks; some from the RLS Legacy's voyage, some during the years that Ariah, Scroop and Silver were together, and some from the adventures between Rebecca Clarke and John Silver.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _When Morph tries to break the tension with his Spider Psycho bit and Ariah promptly shuts him up.

**_Chapter Twenty-Eight:_**

Once the group is together again, a new feeling of imminent doom befalls them, that is, until BEN conveniently reveals the system of pipes leading through the planet. BEN, Jim, Ariah and Morph then group up and decided to get the map, while Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler are reassured that everything will be all right.

After nearly getting noticed by the pirates, more than one time from BEN's lack of grace and silence, the group manages to get the longboat underway towards the RLS Legacy. What they don't know, until later, is that Silver's getting the pirates to set up a trap, one that they will only fall into if they can survive the unknown danger that's patrolling the RLS Legacy…

So they've found the map, but they've also found Scroop. Hmm…

_Favourite part of the chapter:_ One line, which explains all of Doctor Delbert Doppler's feelings of uselessness, "Woof."

**_Chapter Twenty-Nine:_**

Oh yeah, the massive fight between Ariah, Jim and sometimes Morph verses Scroop, while BEN is simultaneously sabotaging the system to deactivate the laser cannons.

We learn through the fight that: Scroop's intent is to kill Jim, Jim's intent is to escape from Scroop and protect Ariah, and Ariah's intent is to stop the fight.

I actually went through a lot of different takes on this scene, one was where Ariah would grab the laser pistol and force the two males to stop fighting by turning it to her temple and she would then threaten to kill herself; and one where Scroop's death is more like an accident than a comeuppance. But I knew that in order for things to progress, Scroop had to be shoved out of the picture, just like in the movie.

After Scroop's finished off I went through a few theories on how Ariah was going to take his death. One of them was that she would lash out on Jim from anger; however I liked the posted reaction much better, but I had to tweak it a few times in order to get the scene to look right, and my beta helped me with the last bit of the chapter.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _The fight, it's one of my absolute favourite fight sequences in this story and in the movie. I find it very emotional, dramatic, and tense. Also BEN's phrase, "Oh Momma!"

**_Chapter Thirty:_**

The first section of this chapter is somewhat of a take-a-breather moment, as well as a relationship developer between Jim and Ariah.

The chapter soon describes the ironic events as Jim, BEN, Morph and Ariah lead themselves right into the pirates' hands. And eventually heads them in the direction of Flint's Trove, however they've got to unlock the key before they're slaughter by the bloodthirsty pirates.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _When Ariah, BEN and Morph are prepared to defend Jim with their lives against the crew. Also, Mister Onus's line, "I see nothing! One great, big stinking hunk of nothing!"

**_Chapter Thirty-One:_**

And once you locate the treasure, it seems that the greedy pirates completely forget about their hostages to bathe in the loot of a thousand worlds. Then, we so inconveniently find out that the entire planet is rigged to explode while at its core.

But thank goodness that our heroes are preparing their escape, just one problem, there're still some pirates that have yet to be handled.

After a dramatic outburst, in which Ariah reveals to Jim that Silver's her father, the two related sailors work together to save Jim after giving up the last of Flint's Trove for things that are worth much more.

Finally, at the end of the chapter, the tension is kicked up a notch, as there seems to be no way of escaping the planetary explosion due to lack of power.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _Doctor Delbert Doppler's crowning moment of awesome, "Is this yours?"

**_Chapter Thirty-Two:_**

Thankfully Jim's quick mind thinks of a solution for the dilemma, bolting them straight back home through the portal… the only problem is getting there in time.

Once Jim's ready to go, Ariah wishes him luck and then gets to work on helping kick up the RLS Legacy's speed, to help them along. In my original run-through of the scene, I was going to have Ariah use her solar glider as a means of saving Jim when his solar surfer short circuits, but decided differently on the matter.

After one mishap, Jim rescues the group from certain death and they return to the safety of Montressor's Lunar Spaceport. Once the celebrations have started, Ariah makes the choice in leaving with her father.

Ariah also decides to help out her former crew -despite all that has happened- and gives them the bail money that she had harvested from Flint's Trove. The statement Ariah says to explain her actions ("that's what friends do, they help out each other") will play a role of its own in the sequel (Ooh spoilers…).

Finally, Jim notices Ariah, Silver and Morph's absence, and hurries to catch up with them.

_Favourite part of the chapter:_ The explosion… KA-BOOM!

**_Chapter Thirty-Three:_**

The final chapter, I knew how it was going to end… with Ariah going with her father, instead of staying with Jim… But of course, Jim can't let the two pirates escape without firstly saying goodbye.

And despite being offered a position at a prestigious academy, Ariah's still going off for a pirate's life, but she's not likely to forget about Jim, nor him about her.

_Favourite part of the chapter: _The warm and fuzzy moments of both hugs and kisses.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

And so ends my lovely rant/bonus chapter that I'd be astounded if anyone read.

Anyway, happy reading and hopefully I'll be able to come up with some starting chapters for the next story in this series (actually the first of two prequels): "By a Strand of Fate".

**MG#6**


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